


Life In The Afterglow

by shoyousugar



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Compliant, Cute, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Romance, Swearing, married
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 48,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26276215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoyousugar/pseuds/shoyousugar
Summary: After Salem, Blake and Yang find themselves retreating into a more tamed and domestic lifestyle.(a series of related ones shots. also formerly known as my oneshot collection.)
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 42
Kudos: 183





	1. Every Picture Tells A Story

**Author's Note:**

> I’m gonna sometimes format the chapters as Blake and Yang looking back on memories so if it gets confusing, just, yeah, that.

A breeze pushed through the open window, curtains billowing gently. It was warm outside, the sun filtering through to paint the wooden walls in a sunny yellow. There was a giggle, followed by the sound of tiny feet sprinting through the house.

Blake was sat on the sofa, watching her son and daughter, twins, sprint outside to play. She laughed softly, hand waving over the large book in her lap. Another laugh escaped her as she watched Yang quickly hop down a few steps on the stairs, half hanging over the banister to try catch a glimpse of where her kids went.

It had been years since the war was over, both of them decided that they were done with the fighting. Sure, they still went on missions, they couldn’t seem to turn down the absurd amounts of lien they made from endangering their lives. But, for the most part, they were through with that life, deciding to retreat to suburban Vale so that they could move on with their lives.

“What’ve you got there?” Yang asked, nodding at Blake as she crossed the room to sit herself down on the sofa next to her.

“Our old photo album,” Blake says as she taps her fingers off of the front cover, “I found it when I was cleaning out the spare room.”

Yang beamed, eyebrows raised in excitement. They used to take photos. A lot of photos. It started from the time they got their hunting license in Atlas, then from there they made it their thing. Eventually it got to the point where they filled two entire albums. The last few pages were filled with photos from their wedding, which Blake found very fitting for the end of that first album.

“Open it up, let’s reminisce,” Yang suggested, hand moving to flick open the front cover.  


“Reminisce until we hear one of the kids crying,” Blake mumbled, drawing a laugh from Yang.

The very first photo was of both of them on Yang’s new motorcycle (old now) making a stupid pose at the camera in front of the old team house. 

Blake shivered at the thought of the old team house, the only reason they all lived there together was because they were flat broke and needed to build up some lien first before anything else. Somehow, they crammed both team ORNJ and RWBY into a four bedroom house. 

The Blood Orange household, they named it. And Blake would be the first to admit that she absolutely hated that house because there was _always_ some sort of noise droning on. 

“Holy shit, remember we even _had_ a first date?”

“It’s kind of wild now, isn’t it?”

“That was, undoubtedly, the most awkward date we’ve ever had,” Yang laughed, throwing her head back into the sofa cushion. Blake raised an eyebrow, twisting to the side so she could eye Yang. “No it wasn’t. It couldn’t be more awkward than the time you puked on my boots?”

“Babe, let’s not bring that up.”  
  


* * *

Blake was sat at the vanity inside of her and Yang’s room, carefully applying her makeup as the final touches to her outfit. Tonight was the night, their first real date as a couple. 

There was of course many times where they had went out together, but they didn’t really count those as dates. Mostly because they either weren’t particularly good or it was just them escaping from everything for a few hours. 

The floor shook as something fell in the next room over, followed by Jaune’s loud shriek and another bang. Blake groaned, grumbling a few profanities under her breath as she finished off her makeup. Trying her best not to mess up from the sheer amount of chaos happening on the other side of the wall. 

She watched the door swing open in the mirror, Yang tumbling through and quickly closing it behind her, making sure to close over the latch. They had to install a lock on their door from the amount of times someone had come parading in at any the of the day. She still hadn’t quite forgiven Ruby for last time when she woke them up at five in the morning. 

Blake smiled, taking a moment to admire Yang’s outfit. The soft orange corduroy jacket over a white t-shirt and black mom jeans. It wasn’t often that Yang was dressed up like this. Most of the time she either had on her work uniform, her mission clothes or just sweatpants and a vest top. 

“You look nice,” Blake said softly, twisting in her chair as Yang walked over with a sheepish smile. 

“Thanks, you look... _uh_...” Yang’s eyes raked over Blake. Once, twice, _a few times_. “ _Wow_.”

“ _Wow_?” Blake parroted, giggling as she stood up. The heels of her leather boots brought her to just an inch or two shorter than Yang, meaning she still had to look up slightly to face her. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”

“Was that a pun?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ll remember that when you complain I’m making too many puns,” Yang said, smiling as she slipped her hands into Blake’s. Despite the metal of her right hand being cold, it was still a comfort. “Also you look gorgeous, I just, uh, y’know.”

“Got extremely awkward?”

“Yeah... sorry.”

( _“You know,” Blake says as she sits back on the sofa, glancing over at Yang. “We’ve been together for like twelve years and you still get awkward like that.”_

_ “It’s not my fault! You make me like that!” _

_ “It’s really cute, even my mom noticed-“ _

_“Stop!”_ )

Their date started as soon as they left the house, avoiding Weiss’ avalanche of questions and Nora’s mountain of requests as they left. Honestly doing anything was a mission in and of itself with everyone living under the same roof.

But it was fine, they were alone, whizzing through the streets of Vale on the back of bumblebee. Blake had her eyes closed, face pressed up against her helmet as it laid against Yang’s back and sighing deeply as the world passed them by. Which was poetic, in a way, as she thought that she would be content to spend forever cuddling up against Yang.

The bike slowed to a stop, the distinct sound of Yang’s foot colliding with the kickstand was all too familiar with her. She pulled back and tugged her helmet off, making sure to shake out her bangs so they wouldn’t look all tangled and flat. Yang did the same, except she swung her legs off of the bike first, offering her hand to help Blake off.

Yang circled the bike, inserting both of their helmets into a case locked on to the back of the motorcycle. Blake took a moment to take in the building in front of her.

It was a restaurant. Most notably, a very expensive looking restaurant. One that she knew they couldn’t really afford right now after having to get weapons upgrades and their huntress licenses renewed.

“You have the complaint face on, what’d I do?” Yang asked, slipping her human arm around her waist.

“Nothing, I’m just looking,” Blake says, squeezing the hand on her waist as she tilts her head to place a kiss on Yang’s jaw. “You ready?”

The blonde nodded, smiling as she took Blake’s hand in her own and guided her to the door, holding it open. Which was nice of her, always the chivalrous gentlewomen.

Inside was nice, a little _too_ overzealous with its bright red walls and artisanal plates but Blake wasn’t too bothered by that. It was nice, in all honesty. The thing she didn’t respect was the sign claiming that the restaurant served authentic Menagerie type food, because a quick glance through the window to the kitchen could tell her that there were no Faunus chefs to make said food.

“What do you think?” Yang asked, guiding them to a booth next to the window and sliding into the seat across from Blake. “It’s pretty nice, right?” She beamed.

“How did you find out about this place?” Blake asked as her finger slid over the menu already on the tabletop. Yang hummed, looked thoughtful for a moment before settling on a smile.

“I saw it when I was coming home from work the other day and I thought you might like it.”

Her fingers twiddled with the table, nails scratching over the tough surface, an uncomfortable twitch that Yang had developed. “It’s fine if you don’t like it, y’know.”

“No, it’s perfect,” Blake said, an insistent lilt to her voice as she reached across the table to grab Yang’s hand. “You’re perfect.”

( _“I still can’t believe you left **me** in charge of our first ever date.”_

_ “Yang, don’t act like it was a disaster.” _

_ “It kind of was.” _

_“I enjoyed it!”_ )

They sat for a while, eating, drinking. But Blake realised something the more they spoke. 

It was really fucking _awkward_. 

Their usual chat and banter wasn’t like this, at all. Usually, they would talk casually. About anything at all. Blake loved how they always fell into step with each other, no matter the thought or conversation being held, they had the other person on their mind. Maybe they were putting too much pressure on themselves.

Which was probably the case, in all honesty, because they were babbling about bullshit that they really didn’t care about.

“There’s a guy who just started at work who was talking to me about binders- not chest binders but the, y’know, the ones used to file stuff,” Yang says as she awkwardly clears her throat. Blake kept nodding, managing to hang on her every word as she toyed with the remains of her dinner. “But he uses binders to store all of his DVDs which I thought was cool.”

“I forgot DVDs were a thing,” Blake chuckled, smiling softly up at Yang who was nervously gripping the table.

Blake’s ear flicked to the right as she caught onto the couples conversation at the table next to them.

“My new professors’ a douche, his lectures are _so boring_ , like, maybe I wouldn’t fall asleep if you weren’t _so boring._ ”

She immediately realised what their problem was; they were trying to fit in. Which simply wasn’t an option for them, their relationship went beyond you’re average couple (or at least Blake liked to think that. It was probably just because they had unusual conversations).

“Do you want to go home? We can watch a movie, you’re pick,” Blake says as she tilts her head to the side, a sincere grin on her face that she knew Yang wouldn’t ignore. “And we can complain about how everything’s too loud and you can say ‘one day Jaune’s gonna come through that wall.’” 

Yang blinked a few times, trying to process this sudden request. Then she nodded her head, chuckling softly as she pressed her tongue into her canine tooth. She continued to laugh as she looked down at her hands, eventually standing up and fishing some lien out of her pocket. 

“I’m so glad you said that.” 

* * *

Yang hummed, gently stroking her hand along Blake’s shoulder, fingers tracing over the tan lines she had gained in the recent summer sun. 

“When you put it like that, it sounds nice,” Yang said, gaze fixed on Blake despite their children’s yells from outside. Which wasn’t as unusual as it sounded, their daughter Kamari was very brash and boisterous, much like Yang herself. Meanwhile Kade, her twin brother, was quite reserved and quiet, often shying away from Kamari’s antics. 

“It sounds nice now, but it was _really_ awkward wasn’t it?”

“It was,” Yang agreed with a laugh and a flick of her eyebrows. “I think the lesson there was that we shouldn’t have tried to be normal like that.”

“We’re pretty normal, Yang.”

“We literally can’t go out for dinner without something crazy happening or having awkward conversations because we can’t talk about weird shit in public.”

“That’s true, I remember we were talking about what’s inside of a battery and we got some strange looks,” Blake said as she began to lean back, sinking into Yang’s warm body. Like she said, always a comfort, even if it was around sixty-degrees outside. They shifted around some more until Blake was between Yang’s legs, photo album lying open as they lay there and prepared to continue their reminiscing. 

The blondes hands kept wandering up and down Blake’s arms, the cool metal on one side greatly contrasting with the flesh on the other yet Blake had grown so used to it that this was normal for her. Flesh meant nothing, only the other soul contained within it. She giggled when metal fingers dug a little too tightly into her forearm, making her swing her head backwards to look at Yang. 

“You’re awfully handsy, Belladonna.” The smile that broke out upon saying Yang’s married name never failed to appear when she said it out loud. Who would take who’s last name turned into a long battle, lasting months. They could double-barrel their names, too much of a mouthful though. But Yang decided to forfeit her name after a particularly nasty argument at her dad’s house, declaring that Blake was her only family.

“Sorry, your skins just really soft,” she says as her eyes slip shut, letting Blake gently peck her lips. “What’ve you used on them?”

“The moisturiser you bought the other day-‘I cant remember the name buts it’s the one in the pink bottle.”

Yang hummed, nodding as she seemed to follow what Blake was talking about. They continued on with slow kisses and tender stares, touches lingering long after they should. They would’ve kept going, enjoying the closeness and each other’s company, if it weren’t for little feet sprinting through the house, shoes squeaking against the floor. No doubt the floor would be covered in mud.

“Mommy! _Mommy look!_ ” Kamari squealed, holding up a little wooden panel in her hand. Blake sat up, smiling as she took the object from her daughter, inspecting it a little More closely to make sure it wasn’t harmful. She discovered it to be a little raft built out of twigs, a flag pole in the centre with a leaf acting as the flag.

“My toys can go on a boat trip in the pond now!”

“I don’t know if that would be a good idea, sweetheart. I’m sure there’s nasty bugs in there now.”

Kamari dropped her head down, holding the little raft in her hands as she pouted at it with her dejected stare. Blake knew the look all too well now, pretending to be upset beyond belief so that she lets her have her way...

It always worked, she didn’t mean for it to but she was a sucker for her kids.

“We’ll see if we can find a way to keep them from falling off of the raft, okay?” Blake said.

“Okay,” her daughter parroted.

She watched Kade climb up onto the sofa, tucked under Yang’s arm as he watched them talk with each other. Getting the same idea, Kamari decided to the same thing, settling on Blake’s lap as she reached for the bang blue book.

“What’s this?”

“An old photo album, want to see some pictures of your mommies?”

The twins excitedly nodded their heads, coming to sit at either side of Yang who now held the book in her lap. It was open on the first page, that same picture of them sitting on Yang’s motorcycle was still so fresh in her memory it was like it just happened.

“You used to be pretty mama,” Kade said, looking Yang dead in the eye as he said it. The blondes jaw dropped, glancing over to Blake for backup. Blake feigned a gasp and scooted towards them on the sofa. 

“You don’t think your mama’s still pretty?” Blake asked as she cupped one of Yang’s cheeks, gently squeezing.

“Yeah, but you’re both old now-“

“Kade, you’re starting to cut a little deep kiddo.”

“You are old though, mama.”

“No I’m- sure, yeah, _I’m old_.” 


	2. Meet the Parents Pt I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake tells her kids what it was like the first time she met Tai.

“Yep... yeah...”

Blake lifted her eyes up from her laptop, glancing over at Yang who was stood at the other side of the living room, scroll pressed to her ear as she spoke with her dad. She had been in the middle of doing the report for her latest mission, barely back a few hours from a week in Mistral.

Naturally, her kids were glued to her side now that she was back, always missing her when she’s gone. Even though on the rare occasion that she had to give them into trouble, they claimed they both hated her, she knew that wasn’t true. Kamari sat with Blake’s scroll in hand, intensely focused on playing some video game, whilst Kade was sat to the other side of Blake, his nose tucked into a book.

She would normally give all of her attention to the kids in times where Yang wasn’t around, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Yang was definitely tense, Blake could tell. Her arms were unintentionally flexed, biceps large when she moved her arms like that.

“What’s wrong with mama?” Kade whispered, his little ears flicking as he looked up at Blake. Blake shook her head, gently ruffling his hair but keeping her eyes trained on Yang. “I have no clue, sweetheart.”

Yang clicked a button on her scroll, holding it down to her shoulder. “My dads trying to come over and stay for the weekend.”

“He can’t. We’re still decorating the spare room.”

“ _Exactly_.”

“Here, give me your scroll, I’ll talk to him-“

“No!” Yang cackled, waving a hand at her. “No, no, no. You talking to my dad is always awkward and passive/aggressive. I’ll handle it,” she said, walking off into the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

“Do you and grandpa Tai hate each other?” Kamari asked, faking a gasp and gripping the pillow in her lap. Blake shook her head and sat her laptop down on the coffee table. Adjusting her son to rest against the back of the sofa instead of on her.

“What have I told you? Stop sticking your claws into the pillows.”

“ _But they hurt!_ ”

“I know, baby, that’s why we put that special little cream on your nails.” Blake gently tapped her fingertips off of her daughters fingernails, extended into claws. She was surprised when her daughter had inherited her Faunus trait from her dad, which was a cool trait to have. Except from all of the healthcare work that went into it. And the lien it cost to buy any treatment for the pain... it was worth it, Blake wouldn’t pretend that she was complaining. Even if it was rather pricey. 

“So, do you hate grandpa?”

“No, we just butt heads sometimes. But I don’t hate your grandpa,” Blake said softly. She sighed when she knew a whole story would be involved, what with two sets of golden eyes staring up at her, little faces alit with curiosity. “Want to hear about the first time I met grandpa?”

* * *

Blake was sat in the passenger seat of the car whilst Yang drove, Weiss and Ruby sat in the backseat, sharing earphones as they watched a movie on Weiss’ scroll.

It was a nerve wracking thing, meeting your girlfriends parent for the first time. They had met, briefly, just after they retook Beacon. Although, at that time they had all been too caught up in trying not to die to really get to know each other.

They were visiting Patch for the weekend and the first thing on the agenda was family game night. And by family she meant the entirety of team RWBY, Tai and Qrow. It was always nice to have Qrow in the mix, his cynicism had became a comfort and a normality in her life.

“Do you think Zwei will look old now, Ruby?” Yang asked, metal hand on the steering wheel as her human arm was leaned against the car window, rolled down to let in some air in an attempt save them from the heat. Keeping that in mind, Blake reached over to turn the AC lower.

“I don’t know, I’m excited to see him though!” Ruby squealed. Weiss tried to hide the smile slipping onto her face, the prospect of seeing Zwei after five years being. Blake didn’t share the enthusiasm but she would tolerate it for the weekend, her only solace was that there wasn’t enough bedrooms for everyone to sleep separately so she was allowed to sleep with Yang.

“My guess is that he looks much older than the last time we saw him,” Weiss says as she slides her scroll shut, Ruby switched off her earphones and tucked them into the pocket of her red hoodie. Yang hummed, nodding her head, glancing at Blake as she spun the car around into the road that led to her dads house, dust blowing up behind them from the road.

The blonde chuckled and pointed to the front yard where Zwei was already out and frolicking around, barking at the car. “Suppose we don’t have to guess at all, he’s the same old Zwei,” she said, laughing as she parked the car then grunting as she settled back against the seat.

Ruby and Weiss were already out of the car, hauling their bags out of the trunk and skipping off towards the door. Weiss was smiling, down on her knees and petting Zwei, rubbing his tummy.

Blake was shook out of her stare when Yang grunted again as she took off her seatbelt. She had a lot of injuries not fully healed by her aura, doing missions in excess after a war didn’t prove to be much help to her ever aching muscles. Blake reached over, placing her hand on Yang’s knee.

“Are you alright? Does your back still hurt?-“

“Before you start your little worry wart rant, which is cute by the way,” Yang says, smirking over at her as she placed her hand on top of Blake’s, “I’m fine. Just a little achy.”

“I’ll get our bags then-“

“Blake.”

“Yang.”

“Don’t start.”

“I’m not starting anything, don’t you start.”

“You’re so annoying.”

(“Mommy, how long have you known mama?” Kamari asked, hands pressed to Blake’s thigh, her nails finally retracted into a normal state.

Blake pondered the question for a moment, actually wondering about it herself.

“Around twelve years, I’m sure.”

“That’s more than ten?”

”Yup, that’s two more years above ten.”

”You’ve known mama _forever_!” Kade squealed, his tiny hands thrown into the air to exaggerate his point.   
  
“It does feel that way.”)

Tai was... a strange man to get to know. Mostly because Blake didn’t know at all when he was joking. Like Yang, he was full of jokes and puns, throwing them around all the time. Yet his jokes were... darker. More than once had he made a comment on Yang’s arm. Like a few minutes ago when he had told her that ‘she should’ve stayed a cripple’ because she struggled to open a jar of jam.

They were sat on the floor, gathered around the coffee table as they had out Remnant: The Game. Blake had _no clue_ how to play so decided to pair up with Yang, she honestly wasn’t all that interested either but she was making the effort to at least try.

Qrow sat next to Tai, who had decided to play with them to make up the numbers. Although he did seem delighted that he has the opportunity to actually play rather than watch. 

“My cards are so shitty,” Yang mumbled, flashing them to Blake for her opinion. “Yeah, you’re pretty screwed,” Blake laughed, resting her head atop Yang’s shoulder.

Ruby had long since been out of the game and Tai was only just now following behind her as Weiss took over his land. She looked elated at best.

“How are you so good at this game?” Tai asked, laughing and scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. Weiss smirked and shrugged her shoulders as she took another turn, already moving spaces towards Yang.

“Weiss has definitely been practicing for the last five years,” Blake chuckled, eyes flicking over to Tai as he held the same amusement as her. “The last time we played this was back at Beacon and Weiss ended up losing to Yang because she didn’t know how to play.”

“ _Ahhhh_ , I bet Yang pretended to guide her through it, be helpful then - _WHAM_ \- suddenly Weiss lost,” Tai says, smirking at the group. “Sound about right?”

“More like _exactly_ what happened,” Ruby chuckled. Qrow pointed a finger towards where Weiss was making her next move. “Looks like she’s about to get revenge, firecracker.”

“ **YES!** ” Weiss cried after realising Yang had no way to stop her from conquering her land, effectively winning the game. “ **I WON!** ”

Yang hung her head in shame, hands pressed into her face as Blake soothingly ran a hand up and down her arm. Ruby cheered and high-fived Weiss, who was unbelievably happy about having won this trivial game. Always competitive over the most minute things, it was adorable.

“Alright, I say we set up out back,” Qrow said, grunting as he stood. Tai raised an eyebrow at him, face laced with simultaneous confusion and concern.

“What do you mean ‘set up out back’?”

“It’s a nice night, we could get a bonfire going and relax.”

“ _A bonfire?!_ ”

“Relax, Tai, it’ll be fine. I’ve got it under control,” Qrow said, waving him off as he strolled towards the kitchen, headed for the back door. “You kids coming or what?”

Naturally, Ruby and Weiss skipped off after him, Weiss with Zwei in her arms as she went along. Blake watched as Yang winced, one hand braced on her thigh as she raised herself up.

Unable to watch that, Blake stood up quickly, helping Yang onto her feet without having her strain her muscles anymore than she had to. She ran her hands along Yang’s arms, gently pushing her fingers into the skin. “Are you alright?” Blake asked, looking Yang up and down.

“I’m fine, baby, I promise.”

“Are you sure? I-“

“Leave her be Blake, once a fighter always a fighter,” Tai said, waving his hand at them as he stood with his hands on his hips. Yang hummed and squeezed Blake’s hand before walking off through the kitchen, headed into the backyard with the rest of the family.

Blake stayed behind, arms across her chest as she stood, feet digging into the floor. Something about Tai’s humour, the way he speaks to Yang, something about it rubbed her the wrong way.

“She’s actually really hurt, by the way. She keeps going on missions just to keep herself occupied,” Blake said, regretting it as soon as she said it. In her head she knew why Yang kept going out on missions, kept getting hurt. Because she was hurt, still. But she hoped it would hurt less if that pain resides in broken bones.

“I know,” he said, shrugging his shoulders casually. “Call it tough love, but it’s what makes her strong. Besides, she’s got you for when it all gets too much for her.”

“And that’s alright by you...?” Blake asked, somewhat anxious about the question.

“Yeah, you’re a good kid.” He winked, smiling at her. The approval warmed her heart, made her release a sigh of relief upon the words sinking in. “And I don’t mean to be so harsh with her, she... she just always seemed to learn more from me being hard on her. Needed that extra kick.”

Blake hummed, acknowledged his logic, but still didn’t agree. “I think you should be a little more mindful of her, that’s all. Sorry if I’m overstepping.”

There was an awkward pause, where Blake thought she might have screwed everything up. But Tai cleared his throat, a grin being painted on his face as he strolled over and threw an arm over Blake’s shoulders, guiding her towards the kitchen. 

“I’ll keep it in mine, right now, I wanna know more about my daughter-in-law.”

“Daughter-in-law? We’re not married.”

“Marriage is just a formality.” He winked, and Blake couldn’t exactly disagree with him. 

* * *

“I think your mom is forgetting to tell you the part where she fell in love with me at first sight,” Yang bragged, a smug smile on her face as she returned from the kitchen, tossing her scroll onto the coffee table before plopping down on the sofa. 

“Actually, that’s not true,” Blake said, flicking an eyebrow. “I thought you were very silly, what with your trying to flirt with me whilst dressed in your pyjamas.”

“I wasn’t _flirting_ with you, I was trying to get my baby sister a friend.” 

“It’s okay, we’ve been together for around nine years now, you can admit it,” Blake said, both of the children giggling as she smirked at Yang. The blonde rolled her eyes, walking over to kneel on the rug in front of Blake. Once settled on her knees, despite the rug digging in to her skin, she leaned forward and took both of Blake’s hand in her own. She trailed gently kisses across her knuckles, smirking up at her.

“Gross,” Kamari said, making a fake sickness gesture with her hand. Blake and Yang looked at each other then to their daughter, who was normally like this when they displayed any sort of affection for each other. Yang smirked as she began to rub her thumbs over the back of Blake’s hands.

“Know what isn’t gross,” Yang said, the question clearly rhetorical from the look on her face. “The swing park.”

The twins’ faces lit up, tiny ‘o’ shapes being formed with their mouths as they gazed at Yang, expecting some sort of insane revelation if she kept talking. She chuckled and threw a thumb towards the staircase, saying, “Why don’t you both go upstairs and I’ll come help you get dressed in a minute.”

Excitedly, they both squealed, fumbling over themselves as they sprinted for the stairs. Yang and Blake chuckled as they watched them go, the sight warning their hearts no matter how many times they watched it replay.

“Suppose I should go get dressed, too,” Blake said, moving to help herself stand up. Instead of actually doing that, though, she was met with Yang’s hand on her chest pushing her back down, chuckling all the while.

“I’ll take them. That means you can finish this report and maybe take a nap.”

“Yang...”

“Don’t _Yang_ me, you looked exhausted,” Yang said quietly. Her voice lowered along with her eyelids as Blake drew her closer by the collar of her shirt, pressing a gentle kiss to Yang’s lips which she happily reciprocated. “Babe, you need a nap. _Just do it_.”

Blake sighed, contemplating the question in her head for a few moments. Of course, she trusted Yang with their kids. And, yes, she needed to finish this report and she was also still very tired from her mission. “Alright, but keep me updated,” Blake said, unable to resist capturing Yang’s lips one more time. They were too tempting not to.

“I’ll send pictures,” Yang chuckled as she backed away, keeping hold of Blake’s hand until her arm no longer stretched far enough to keep holding on.

Blake let out a small sigh, watching as Yang dashed off upstairs to mother their children. She concluded a long time ago that no matter what tried to come between them, whether that be; family; friends; children; time in general. They would find a way. It seemed to be working out well, and she doubted either of them would trade their domestic lives for the world. 


	3. Meet The Parents Pt II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang meets Blake’s parents for the first time.

Something was gentle about today, Yang thought. Maybe it was the way the sun glowed through the curtains, not enough to shine through but enough to leave a warm imprint on the room. Perhaps it was the quiet music she and Blake had playing from the TV, or how quiet the house was in general.

Weiss had been desperate to have the twins sleepover at her house, had been begging them since the last time for there to be a next. The simple answer to that question had always been; _no_. Both Blake and Yang were relatively busy people with work and missions. Plus bringing up two kids was the voluntary work on the side, having to constantly keep them entertained and teach them new things was a chore yet they loved it.

Somehow, Blake and Yang had been coaxed into agreeing to let Weiss steal their kids for the weekend. To be fair, Yang was sure that she would legally be a terrible person if she said no to her babies begging to stay with their aunt. But this meant that they were left with a very quiet and empty house.

Yang was propped up against the sofa cushions, Blake in between her legs and lying back against her chest. They had both been reading for a while, until Yang’s attention span died and she went on her scroll instead. Blake honestly didn’t care, she only chuckled and flicked Yang’s chin with her ear.

“Can’t believe you’re missing all the good parts, you don’t want to know how Eleanor makes it out of the library maze?” Blake said, her tone thick with smugness. She smirked as she twisted her head towards Yang, not quite fully turning to face her.

The blonde chuckled, taking the hint of the movement that she had become familiar with after years of dating and marriage, she adjusted accordingly to gently peck Blake’s lips.

“I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it anyway.”

“You’re acting like I tell you everything about the books I read.”

“That’s because you do.”

“You’re gaslighting me,” Blake smirked, gaining a chuckle and another kiss. Yang shook her head, which resulted in her bumping her nose off of Blake’s a few times. “You’re getting bored now aren’t you?”

“Just a little,” Blake admitted, scrunching up her nose and making a gesture with her thumb and forefinger to indicate how bored she was. “This is really nice though, we don’t get time to laze around together anymore.”

“True, it feels weird though,” Yang says, incidentally glancing over to the twins’ toy sets stashed away in a box next to the TV, “I’m so used to Kade and Kamari being around.”

“Yeah... well I suppose now we know how everyone else feels when one of us goes on a mission,” Blake said, flicking one eyebrow up to emphasise her point. Yang hummed in agreement, stealing another kiss from Blake since she could do that without two little gremlins groaning at her for doing so.

Her scroll pinged and vibrated in her hand, followed by the same sequence twice over.

“Who’s messaging you?”

“Why do you sound so surprised that someone’s messaging me?”

“Because no one does, only Coco when she needs someone to go out drinking with.”

Yang chuckled, shrugging her shoulders and adjusting her prosthetic arm around Blake, making sure she wasn’t holding on too tightly to hurt her.

“ _Oh_...” Yang said, both eyebrows raised as she looked at her scroll, thumb scrolling down the chat. “It’s your mom.”

Blake furrowed her brow, turning to the side and reaching for Yang’s hand where she held her scroll. One of Yang’s pet peeves was something her wife tended to do regularly, and that was take her scroll out of her hand when she could clearly see what was on the screen. The purpose of this wasn’t actually to see what was on the screen, but to snoop through her scroll.

“Why is my mom messaging you and not me?” Blake questioned, chuckling as she looked through the chat log. Yang shrugged, arms curling around Blake’s stomach to cuddle her, head settled on her shoulder as she also looked through her scroll. “Because I’m her daughter-in-law.”

“I’m Tai’s daughter in law and he doesn’t send me pictures of things he’s bought for the kids.”

“Listen, me and Kali have a great relationship.”

“That’s actually very true,” Blake said whilst she typed out a reply, dropping the scroll into her lap as she leaned back against Yang again. “Remember when you first met my parents?” 

* * *

Summertime had come far more quickly than anticipated for everyone, which left Vale in a stifling heat that often left everyone unable to breath without having to strip down to barely anything and having a fan within a five-foot radius. 

Fortunately, Blake and Yang had already planned to escape for a week on their vacation to Menagerie. Which was also a good excuse for Yang to finally meet her parents in person and not over video chat. Which had been slightly awkward, what with Blake’s mom asking some very... _personal_ questions. 

They strolled through the crowded marketplace, Yang with two suitcases in her hands as they strolled through and Blake with their travel bags. Somehow, Yang felt really out of place. What with her seemingly being the only human in Menagerie right now, which gained her a few strange looks from the Faunus folk. 

“I can’t believe you lived in a mansion.” 

“It’s not a mansion... it’s just a really big house.”

“It’s a mansion,” Yang chuckled, playfully jabbing Blake with her elbow. “And here I called Weiss the princess when, all this time, it was you.” 

Blake rolled her eyes fondly, chuckling as she walked ahead of Yang, climbing the steps to the front door. Yang followed behind her, the size of the double doors in front of her being extremely intimidating. What was more intimidating was the knock on the door that Blake did with ease and without an ounce of anxiousness. 

“Should I have brought something for your parents?” Yang asked, head whipping towards Blake in a sudden panic. Blake raised an eyebrow, half smirking and reaching over to grab Yang’s hand. 

“Yang, you’re gonna be fine.”

“But, y’know, politeness and etiquette?”

“It’s-“

Both doors creaked open, revealing Ghira in all his glory, both arms holding the doors wide as he smiled down at the two of them. Kali sprinted from the hallway behind him, ducking under his arm and laughing happily as she pulled Blake into a hug. 

“Hi, mom,” Blake chuckled, hugging her back. Kali pulled away, hands landing on Blake’s shoulders as she looked her up and down, smiling as she examined her daughter. Yang could see her scrutinising everything about her appearance right now. From the crop top Blake wore, to one of Yang’s flannels tied around her waist, just above her denim shorts. 

“I’m not used to seeing you dressed so casually... and wearing colours other than black and white.” 

Blake nodded awkwardly before gesturing to Yang, gently grabbing her hand as she stepped towards her. “This is Yang, in the flesh for once,” Blake chuckled, squeezing her hand reassuringly. 

“It’s nice to meet you Mrs Belladonna,” Yang said, reaching her hand out to shake hands with Kali. The Faunus woman took a moment, staring at her hand, the bright yellow metal glittering from the sprinkles of sun seeping through to it. Yang was about to retract her hand, thinking now that it was unwise of her stick out her prosthetic hand. But Kali gripped her hand, pulling her forward and into a long comforting hug. 

“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Kali said, voice only a little louder than a whisper. The blonde froze at first before melting into the hug, leaving one hand firmly planted on Kali’s hip as the other was firmly placed on her shoulder blade. Blake smiled at them, walking forward to greet her father at the door. 

Yang smiled, hugging her a little tighter and releasing a sigh of relief. “Yeah, it’s really great to meet you both as well.” 

Kali cleared her throat and pushed herself back, gripping Yang’s shoulders as she glanced over her. Much like Blake, she was dressed in a tank top and shorts, although she did have a baseball cap in her hand that she had been fanning herself with. She was suddenly very conscious of the way her best was barely covered by her tank top and of her bare arms, sweat glistening on her biceps. 

“My daughter doesn’t just have a thing for blondes but for muscles too,” Kali said, motioning for Ghira to come over. Instead she was met with a flustered Blake, sputtering words that were never meant to come. Yang smiled, unbelievably pleased with that response. 

“ _Mom_! You can’t say things like that!” Blake barked, face flushed red from her mother’s comment. Kali hummed, an innocent smile on her face as she turned away from Yang. Yang took that moment to shake Ghira’s hand, exchanging polite greetings as they finally met each other. Which was actually very pleasant.

“It’s fine, Yang’s family now. She’ll get used to it,” Kali said, waving her wrist at Blake as her head swivelled back to Yang and Ghira. “Anyway, let’s get you both inside.”

(“I almost teared up when your mom said that to me,” Yang said, looking away sheepishly. Blake giggled, gently rubbing her hand back and forth over Yang’s collarbone.

“She didn’t lie though, you are family.”

“Yeah, but...”

“I know, I understand.”)

Yang had followed Kali through the house, dumping her and Blake’s bags in their bedroom before being guided back downstairs. She smiled at Blake sitting next to her dad, pouring out cups of tea as they spoke to one another.

“You’re staring,” Kali sang, playfully nudging Yang’s arm. The blonde’s voice cracked as she let out a surprised shriek, laughing as she tried to play it off. 

Kkk“Sorry, I just.. she looks really happy,” Yang said, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jean shorts. “She’s been looking forward to visiting for a while now.”

“How have things been? She’s told me what’s been going on but I’m just curious,” Kali said. The question was there, unspoken but implied in her words and in the way her eyes watered with worry.

‘Is my daughter lying to me?’

‘Are things bad?’

‘Should I tell her to stay here?’

“Things are fine, not that exciting in all honesty. Ruby tends to steal all of the missions before we get a chance to see them,” Yang chuckled, flashing a smile at Kali that she hoped conveyed that things were alright. “Right now, we’re focusing on getting enough lien to buy our own place.”

“How’s that working out for you both?”

“We both work overtime and only really see each other when we’re having dinner or going to bed,” Yang chuckled, glancing over as Blake began showing her dad something on her scroll. “How about you Mrs Belladonna? How are things?”

“The same as they’ve been for the last year, quiet and filled with Faunus rights paperwork.”

“Sounds eventful.”

“It sounds _boring_ ,” Kali corrected, smirking as she pressed a hand to the small of Yang’s back and gestured for her to go sit with Blake, who was now looking at them curiously. “Blake, Yang was just telling me of how boring and average your life is now.”

“You say that, but I’d rather my life now to the one I was living,” Blake said, flicking her eyebrows. Yang found Blake leaning towards her, whether she knew she was doing it or not didn’t matter, Yang was subconsciously slipping an arm around her waist. So used to the action that it had become second nature.

“My dad thinks your bike looks cool,” Blake said, looking up at Yang as she threw her thumb in her fathers direction. Yang hummed, eyes lighting up as she looked over at Ghira. “I made it from spare parts and now it goes super fast with its new engine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I work in a garage so there’s a ton of spare parts lying around all the time. Most of the time they get thrown out so I put them to good use.”

“How resourceful,” Ghira commented, sipping his tea as he shifted his position. “What’s this that Blake is telling me about a new house.”

“Oh...” Yang said, voice ringing out as she didn’t know whether that was a good or bad thing. “We’re saving up lien so we can find a place where we can move in together.”

“Why didn’t you say when you called? I would’ve given you the lien,” Ghira said, eyes furrowing as he looked down at Blake. She shrugged, her Faunus ears swivelling as she got comfy leaning back against Yang. “Because we’re doing it ourselves, right Yang?” Blake said, looking up at her.

Part of Yang wanted to say that they needed the lien, but the other part of her knew that they had saved up a fair amount and didn’t need the help. She went with the latter.

“Yeah, we’ve saved a decent amount as it is, just a couple more months and we should be good to go,” Yang said, nodding in agreement with Blake. The Faunus girl grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently in thanks for the backup. Yang decided that this would probably be her role, backing up her girlfriend when she needed it. Not that she wouldn’t anyway.

“I’m assuming most of that lien is from missions?” Ghira asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

“Some of it, but most is from what we’re saving by living with a ton of people,” Yang said. She failed to mention the every growing gas & electricity bills but he didn’t need to know that.

“What’re you both doing for dinner later?” Kali asked, head peeking out from behind the kitchen door. This time, Yang looked at Blake, expecting her to answer for them as she honestly didn’t know what their plans were. Even if she did, she wasn’t sure she would know what restaurants around here were nice. 

“We’re staying here but we’ll probably go out for dinner a few times whilst we’re here,” Blake says as she begins to play with Yang’s hand, picking something off of the metal plates. 

(“I regret saying that to my mom.”

“Because she kept asking about our sex life?”

“Yes, that and because I don’t like her casserole but I’ve never had the heart to tell her.”) 

Everything in Menagerie was just... _perfect_.

Of course, she knew the bustling streets were an issue and how close together all of the small houses were. But it still looked and smelled gorgeous, the sun just being an added bonus to the tropical island.

Yang was lying in bed, watching Blake crack open her bedroom windows so the air wouldn’t be stuffy in the morning. There was a soft glow from the broken moon, lightening Blake’s features, a glitter in her hair and tiny smile that didn’t go unnoticed.

“You look beautiful...” Yang said, voice kept low as a show of respect for this time at night. Blake’s smile widened as she turned around fully, hips swaying as she walked over to crawl back into bed.

“Thank you, but I think the same could be said for you,” Blake said as she leaned over Yang, unable to resist dropping a few spare kisses on her lips, which Yang readily accepted and spared a few of her own. “What did you think of them?”

“You’re a great kisser.”

“I meant my parents, dork.”

“I like them, they’re really nice,” Yang says as she stares up at Blake looming over her, anticipating a little more fooling around judging from the look in Blake’s eyes right now. “I hope they liked me but...”

“They did, although my mom said you were ‘whipped’,” Blake laughed, Yang joining in as she playfully tried to push Blake’s face away. The Faunus girl only laughed and leaned down to capture Yang’s lips, moaning into it a little as she slid a hand down Yang’s abs-

The door swung open, only halfway, as Kali fell through, gripping onto the handle as she smiled shakily. “Sorry! Was just coming to check up on you two- looks like you’re fine, well, goodnight!”

Blake shook her head as Kali closed the door behind her, glancing down at Yang and hoping she shared the same unamused look. She didn’t, if anything Yang was on the verge of laughing aloud. “I like them.”

* * *

Blake yawned as she stretched her arms out, throwing her head back against Yang’s chest. It was nice, to just relax without worrying about anything. Even if they did miss their kids, the break was welcomed.

“Maybe we should visit them again soon, we haven’t been in a while,” Yang said, nuzzling Blake’s cheek with her nose and closing her arms around her waist. Blake hummed, raising a hand up to cup Yang’s jaw she looked through her scroll.

“Personally, I was hoping for the spare room to be finished so that they could come to us instead.”

“I don’t know if that’d work out, babe. Your dad’s a busy a guy.”

“True...” Blake hummed, “we can think about it more when Weiss brings the kids back, let’s just relax.”

“Speaking of relaxing, wanna take a bath with me?”

“Oh my god, when was the last time we did that?” Blake laughed, sitting up to let Yang up and off of the sofa. The blonde chuckled as well, an eyebrow raised in thought. “I actually think it was the last time we were at your parents house because we were in that fancy hot tub they have now.”

“Maybe we should go on vacation...”

Yang chuckled and shook her head at how easily swayed Blake was before going off upstairs to run the water for their bath. Her wife was easily swayed by the nicer things in life and that was fine by Yang. 


	4. Storms At Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A thunderstorm arrives one night, leaving the house in total darkness if it hadn’t been for the candles. Somehow, that isn’t the scariest thing that happens to Blake this evening.

A sharp bolt of lighting shot through the sky, thunder rumbling before another bolt appeared. Blake couldn’t say she was thrilled with the weather, it was actually an inconvenience. She honestly thought it was typical that on her first night off from work, a thunderstorm would appear.

She and Yang had been wandering around the house, searching for a source of light and unplugging everything from their sockets. There was no surge suppressor in their home so they couldn’t be too cautious when it came to thunderstorms. But Blake also wanted to make sure their twins were alright, because she wasn’t sure if they would be scared of the storm or not.

“Yang, did you find the matches?” Blake asked, voice soft so that she wouldn’t startle the kids if they hadn’t already been spooked by the weather. Yang nodded, a box of matches being slipped into the pocket of her sweatpants before she began helping Blake carry candles into their living room.

Kade was sat on the floor, face scrunched as he focused on keeping his colouring inside of the lines of his drawing. Kamari was lying next to him, legs kicking in the air as she went through one of Yang’s old motorcycle magazines that she had become fascinated with.

Blake sighed, relieved that they were fine, and began going around the living room, setting candles alight everywhere she went. Lightning spiralled across the sky again, lighting up the house for a brief moment before it faded. She knew she was supposed to be the adult here, but she couldn’t help the way her heart pounded, anxiety creeping in as she thought about all of the things that could go wrong-

“You’ve got to calm down, baby,” Yang cooed, an arm curling around Blake’s waist as she nuzzled her face into her neck. “I can practically hear you thinking.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just anxious,” Blake said, sighing again as she closed her eyes, ears folding back against her head.

“Hey, it’s fine. We’ll just chill for a little while then head to bed. I’m sure the twins are getting tired anyway.”

Blake hummed in agreement, reaching her hand behind her to gently grip Yang’s hip. She leaned back, feeling Yang tense to keep Blake from falling. She chuckled when the blonde stumbled slightly, beginning to get too tired to hold both of their weight.

“Mama! Come look at my drawing!”

“Coming, kiddo!” Yang says, planting a kiss on Blake’s cheek as she walks away, groaning as she moves to sit down on the floor next to their kids. Blake doesn’t like the silence that follows, the hesitant pause that sits in the air like a bad smell. Her head whipped around, now watching Yang quietly fawning over their son’s drawing.

“Where did you learn to draw this?” Yang asked quietly, so quietly that Blake was only able to make out the words she mouthed. With a few purposeful strides, she stopped just behind Yang, looking down at the drawing on the floor. It was of a huntress, swinging her sword in the air, but what really caught her eye was the boy with what looked like a Grimm mask on their face. 

“Yang-“

“Kade, have you ever seen a mask like that before?” Yang asked sweetly, smiling as she lifted up the piece of paper. Blake felt bad, she hated the puppy dog eyes Kade was flashing right now, tears already filling up his eyes. “Am I in trouble?” Kade asked, voice bubbly. His sisters attention had been snapped away from her magazine, attention fixed on what was happening.

“No, sweetheart, we just want to know where you’ve seen that mask before,” Blake said, kneeling down to tap her finger off of the paper. Their son fiddled with his pyjama top for a moment, ears swivelling atop his head as he thought about what to say.

“Uncle Sun showed me...” He said, rubbing his thumb in circles around his palm, a nervous tic that both of them had picked up on recently. Blake growled, a throaty sigh at the back of her throat as she shook her head.

“I’m gonna fucking kill him-“

“ _Blake_! Not in front of the kids.”

“Right, I’m sorry...” Blake murmured, shaking her head. She ran a hand through Kade’s hair, gently scratching behind his Faunus ears as she did so. Deciding it wasn’t enough affection, she leaned forward to plant a kiss on his forehead. “You’re not in trouble, sweetie.”

Blake pulled away, squeezing Yang’s shoulder as she stood up and walked off into the kitchen. She was glad they had lit up the downstairs of their house with candles, it meant she didn’t have to fumble around in the dark for a moment.

She was searching for her scroll, enraged by Sun’s ignorance. She couldn’t fathom why he would tell her three year old about a Faunus movement that was highly linked to terrorism, which she was _also_ involved with... they were too young. If anything, she would rather they know nothing at all, even when they’re older.

“Is mommy upset?” She heard Kamari ask from the other room, her voice laced with confusion.

“No, I think she’s just a little scared of the lightning,” Yang said, her cheery tone telling Blake that she was trying her best to sell that lie. There was quietness again as Yang was probably attempting to amuse them for the time being. Which bought Blake some time to find her scroll, searching through for Sun’s contact number.

The door handle swung downwards, Yang coming to encroach upon the kitchen, closing it behind her.

“What’re you doing?”

“I’m gonna call Sun, he’s not getting away with this.”

“Yeah? Yeah, sure, go call him- _oh wait_ , we don’t have any reception!” Yang snarked, eyebrows furrowed as she leaned on the kitchen island, watching Blake sigh as she dropped her scroll back down onto the counter. 

“I don’t want our kids - our _goddamn_ babies - having to know about the White Fang or Adam,” Blake said, sighing exasperatedly as she wiped her forehead. 

“I know- _I know_..! But you’re fucking scaring them more than the weather outside,” Yang said, brows furrowed as she scanned Blake’s face in the darkness, hands somehow finding their way to Blake’s waist. She sighed, Faunus ears pinning against her head as she tucked herself under Yang’s chin. 

“I just... they don’t need to know any of that stuff,” Blake whimpered, tears sliding down her cheeks as she gripped onto her wife for dear life. Yang in turn wrapped her arms more tightly around her, peppering kisses across Blake’s forehead, a comforting gesture that always calmed her. “Hey, what are you crying for?”

“I’m scared...”

“Scared of what?”

“Scared that they won’t be able to handle anything more than a thunderstorm.” 

Yang chuckled, dragging her hands along Blake’s back, gripping onto her shoulder blades before letting go entirely. “Blake, have you met our kids? The only thing they are sensitive of is being given into trouble and food.” 

Blake giggled, running a hand through her bangs. “I suppose.” 

“Look, it’s almost...” Yang trailed off for a moment as she flicked open Blake’s scroll, glancing at the time. “Ten o’ clock, we’ll try put the kids to bed then we can relax. Sound good?”

“Perfect.”

Yang hummed and began to blow out the candles, dimly lighting the kitchen with their orange glow. Blake smiled and began to do the same in the living room, tiptoeing around as she did so. The twins were watching her, tiny sets of eyes staring at her as she began to leave the room in darkness.

“Are you alright, mommy?” Kamari asked, fidgeting with her hands as she looked up at her. Kade did the same, seeming to share her sisters anxiousness from pure sense alone. Blake nodded, coming over to scoop both of her kids up into her arms, pressing a firm kiss onto both of their cheeks.

“I’m fine, just a little scared of the lightning,” Blake said, a clear lie but one that they would no doubt believe. She had already got away with her lie when she saw Kamari gasp, reaching out to soothingly rub Blake’s shoulder. Something she had seen Yang do once and continued to repeat now that she thought it was a thing.

“But, lightning aside, it’s bedtime for you two,” Blake said, grinning as she began heaving up the stairs, Yang chuckling as she cleaned up the floor. The twins groaned, frowning as Blake carried them upstairs and through the shadowy hallway, littered with photos from over the years that Blake and Yang had been together.

The twins’ room was fairly good for when the bad weather came in, as the front of the house was where the rain and wind mostly hit. She didn’t regret letting the twins choose their own furniture, she actually rather enjoyed the clash of purple and blue walls from each respective side of the room. The furniture a light brown and accentuating the rest of the room.

As usual, Kamari groaned and protested as she was tucked into bed, determined to fight sleep until the bitter end. Kade was usually the complete opposite, happy to just fall asleep as soon as he hit the pillow. But tonight, he was starting to look a little unsure of the conditions.

“What if the thunder keeps me awake?” Kade asked, pouting as he gripped the top of his comforter. Blake hummed, still tucking him into the bed. “If you get scared, you just come and knock on mommy’s bedroom door, alright?” Blake said, placing a kiss on his forehead as she pulled away. He nodded, wordlessly agreeing with her.

Blake glanced over her shoulder as she heard Yang coming in the door, smiling as she reached down to kiss Kamari goodnight, pushing the hair out of her face. Yang came over to do the same thing to Kade, having to drag Blake out of the room before she ended up just sleeping in here with them.

She chuckled as Yang closed the door, pointedly looking at Blake as she shut it over. “Who do you think you’re laughing at, huh?” Yang said quietly, grabbing Blake’s waist as she walked behind her, face tucked into her neck. “I’m laughing at you, of course.”

“‘ _Of course_ ’? You calling me a clown? That’s domestic abuse.”

“I wouldn’t be wrong though, would I?”

“That’s it, I want a divorce.”

“Shut up, you love me too much to do that,” Blake sang as she closed their own bedroom door over, followed by quiet shuffling over to their bed. She felt Yang curl up behind her, her arm being swung over Blake’s waist, Blake took that as an invitation and shuffled backwards, tucking herself into her wife-

“Oh my god, your feet are _freezing_!” Yang squeaked but made no attempt to move, laughing along with Blake as they lay in bed together now. “So what, apart from the obvious, brought on the sudden murder of Mr Wukong?”

“The fact that he’s telling our three year olds something they don’t need to know, at all.”

“I honestly don’t know what you expected, he’s an idiot.”

“Well now I know not to leave the twins alone with him if that’s the case,” Blake growled, shuffling around until she was holding Yang’s hand over her waist. The lightning appeared again, rattling the entire house. It lit up the yellow of Yang’s prosthetic, lying idle on their bedside table. “Do you think they’ll ask how you lost your arm?”

“Probably.”

“What are you gonna tell them?”

“I don’t know yet... probably just some monster story.”

Blake twisted around to face Yang, covers ruffling beneath her as she did so. She gave her an unamused look, brow furrowed as she looked at her. Yang sighed and buried her face into the pillow, shaking her head.

“You’re overreacting, our kids are fine.”

“And you’re not reacting enough. We’re talking about our kids finding out about a psychopath who tried to kill us when we were seventeen!”

“I know, but I think being so hostile is gonna make them more scared.” Yang kept her voice soft, leaving gently touches over Blake’s skin in an attempt to sooth her. Blake turned around fully, resting her head on Yang’s chest.’

“I’m sorry... it’s just- I’m not sure I _want_ them to know any of that stuff.” She sighed, content with the feeling of Yang scratching her back. “We’ve got time to figure that out, let’s just wait until they do start asking questions.”

Another flash of lightning lit up the room. 

“Kade hasn’t came in yet...”

“He’s probably just not scared of the lightning.”

A moment of silence as the thunder rumbled outside.

“I’m gonna check on him-“

“ _Nope_ , stay here, I’ll go do it,” Yang said, chuckling as she stood up and made her way out of the room, floorboards creaking as she went down the hallway. “Blake you’ve gotta come see this.” She heard faintly.

Her heart stopped, blood running cold as she bolted to her children’s bedroom door. But instead of a nightmare, she was met with the cutest sight she had ever seen. Kade was curled up, asleep, with Kamari lying next to him. Her arm slung over him as they slept.

“He must have gotten scared and she’s slept beside him so he wouldn’t be afraid.”

“Gods, that is so adorable,” Blake fawned, a hand over her mouth as she watched them slumber, chests heaving as gentle snores escaped them. Yang grinned, leaning on the door frame as she closed over the door.

“I told you they’d be fine,” Yang says, a hand on the small of Blake’s back, “and if they want to ask questions, that’s fine. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“ _You’re right..._ ” Blake sighed, letting herself fall forward to sink into Yang, too tired to keep herself upright from the events of the past few hours.

She was still scared, of course, but she felt more ready. Knowing Yang was here to help was the bonus in all of this, there was no one she would rather in the world. 


	5. Not a House; A Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang and Blake recall the time when they first bought their house.

“Mama?”

Yang hummed, flicking up her sunglasses as she turned off the garden hose. She had been watering the plants whilst Blake relaxed on the sun loungers, book in hand. She smiled at Kamari, her hand looking so tiny as it gripped the bottom of Yang’s tank top.

“What’s up, sweetheart?”

“Mommy said that you stole the garden from her, you should give it back!” Kamari yelled, hands digging into Yang’s shirt as she tried to climb her like a tree. Yang was laughing until she felt her daughters claws start to dig into her skin, causing her eyes to widen and for her to remove Kamari from her.

“She said that, huh?” Yang chuckled. Kamari nodded, gripping onto Yang’s shoulder as she sat perched on her forearm where Yang held her. She glanced over to Blake, who was smirking and clearly staring at them even under the guise of her sunglasses.

With a confident grin she began striding towards Blake, eyes squinting at the sun as her daughter stole her sunglasses. “What’s all this about the garden?” Yang said, plopping herself down on the sun lounger next to Blake’s.

“You mean _my_ garden?”

“I think you mean _our_ garden.”

“I believe it was _both_ of our ideas,” Blake sang, tilting her head to the side so she could smirk at Yang once again. She rolled her eyes, chuckling as Kamari ran off after spotting her brother, almost tackling him as she leapt for the ball on the ground.

“Hey, don’t you think it’s weird how long we’ve had the house for?” Yang asked, hand skidding off of Blake’s leg as she tried to pry her attention back away from her novel. Blake hummed and chuckled, nodding over at her. “Definitely weird to think about.”

Blake grinned, chuckling to herself as her grin widened. “Remember how much of a mess we were when we first moved in?”

* * *

A couple months had passed since Blake and Yang had first bought their new home together, spending time preparing it for themselves before they dove into their life. There was a certain appreciation for home, of course, but more so because they knew it was their own. 

They had been at each other’s throats during a few days of painting the walls, Blake claiming Yang was being too heavy handed and Yang declaring war on Blake for picking up the wrong shade of purple for their bedroom. 

Putting down the flooring had been worse, with Blake actually leaving and going back to the Blood Orange household when Yang had whipped out floorboards a few shades too light for her liking. 

It was almost as if they didn’t have scrolls to send each other pictures of their preferences on. 

However, learning from their mistakes, they decided to do the last part together; buy furniture. They had rented a truck, using it to drag the last of their furniture down to their home. Everything was in order, all of the kitchen appliances set up for later, boxes of unmade furniture in the living room along with an unplugged TV. 

“So, when we get here, we’re bringing in the sofa first,” Blake said, finger pointing at nothing as she spoke. 

Yang hummed nodding as she hung on to her girlfriends every word, determined that they weren’t going to have another argument today. The last five they’d had over stupid bullshit had been too much for her heart. And Blake’s too, judging by the way she curled up to Yang in bed the last few nights. 

“Do you think it’d be better to bring the bed in first? Just get it out of the way,” Yang questioned, eyes narrowed as she scanned the road, trying to figure out which cutoff led to their home. Their cabin home was out in suburban Vale, away from the action. That suited them just fine. 

“Yeah, actually, it means we can just crash out whenever then,” Blake said, smiling over at the blonde who grinned proudly, far too happy about being validated. It was always nice when Blake agreed with her, which was fairly often anyway, but it was still really nice. 

Yang’s arm wrapped around the back of her seat as she glanced out the rear window, onto their new gravel driveway. She raised an eyebrow and grinned at Blake, who was staring at her with a sort of love struck expression.

“You look really hot when you’re reversing.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah...”

“Whatever floats your boat, Blake,” Yang laughed, smiling softly at Blake as she put the car into park.

Blake pursed her lips, knee bouncing as she glanced out of the window at the front door. She leaned back, head rolling along the back of the seat, her ears perking upwards. “Aren’t you excited? This is gonna be our first night in our house.”

“I am, but you look really cute when you’re excited so I’m just letting you have your moment,” Yang said, smiling as she glanced over her girlfriend once again. Blake giggled and leaned over the console to peck Yang’s lips.

“Let’s get the bed inside.”  
  


(Blake snorted, throwing her head back as she began laughing aloud, the kids glancing over from the sheer volume of it. 

“Do you remember when you broke the bed-“

“ _Don’t_!”

“When your drunk ass fell onto the bed and the bed slats snapped!” Blake cackled, rolling to the side in complete euphoria as she laughed away. “Then you pointed to the bed and said ‘is that a fat joke?’” 

“Baby... let’s not talk about my drunk antics.”)

Yang finished sliding the bedsheets over their duvet, now beginning to flatten it out over the bed. Blake was downstairs making herself a snack, so the blonde took it upon herself to at least make the bed for them tonight. 

“Yang! Babe, c’mere a sec!”

Yang hummed, despite Blake being unable to hear her, she would probably still be able to hear Yang’s footsteps echoing as she made her way downstairs. There was a sort of eeriness being in an echoing home, too used to the insane volume of the every one of their friends doing something around them. 

“Yang, I can’t get the oven started,” Blake said, fiddling with the dials on the oven as she tried to get it started up, a pair of frozen chicken burgers sat on top of a metal tray. The blonde chuckled and strolled over, reaching under the counter to flip a switch, the oven roaring to life with a mechanical whir. 

Blake jumped, ears pinning back as she brought a hand to her chest from her fright. Yang laughed again, hands landing on Blake’s hips as she pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You okay?” Yang asked, smiling against her skin. 

“ _Mhmm_ ,” Blake drawled, twisting her head to the side to meet Yang’s lips, fingers tangling in blonde curls as she held her in place, sharing a slow, languid kiss. “Remind me to flip that switch again later.” 

“I will, now, let’s get this sofa inside before it starts raining,” Yang said, kissing her still, her hand sliding down Blake’s arm in a soothing manner. It was very... domestic. In a way that was overwhelming for Yang, tears gathering in her eyes, being choked back as she continued to kiss her girlfriend. 

Overwhelmed. Just completely overwhelmed by their small moment of domesticity, making her realise that this was their life. This was going to be everyday, every week, every month, every year for them. It made her realise that this was the rest of her life... and she didn’t have a problem with that. It was just overwhelming. 

“Baby, are you alright?” Blake said quietly, her hand coming up to pet Yang’s cheek, wiping her tears away with her thumb. 

“Yeah,” she says, smiling, “I just love you is all.”

(“Aww, I forgot about that part,” Blake cooed, a hand on her heart as she smiled over at Yang. 

“You were too busy thinking about the sofa weren’t you?”

“Yes.”)

The sofa couldn’t fit in the door. That was it, it was the bottom line. Which caused them to both sigh in unison, groaning at this fact. Blake stood, running her thumb over the fabric as Yang continued to try and force the sofa inside, a vein bulging on the side of her head as she began to lose her temper. 

“Yang, it doesn’t fit-“

“I’m gonna take the door off,” She said, jogging over to their truck and swinging the door open. Blake raised both eyebrows in surprise and a little in annoyance. 

“What if you can’t get the door back on?”

“I know what I’m doing,” Yang said, jogging back over to the door with a drill, quickly taking the screws out of the doorframe, wooden door quickly being dragged outside. All the while Blake looked on with a shocked expression, whilst her girlfriend removed the front door of their home. 

“Yang, if this door doesn’t go back on the wall, I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

“Babe, _relax_ , it’ll be fine,” the blonde said, grinning as she came over to grab the other side of the sofa, gesturing for Blake to do the same. She did, lifting the hunk of fabric up as they carried it through the doorway, being able to fit through now that the door was gone. 

Their sofa really completed the living room, boxes of unmade furniture still scattered around, but the TV stood on a table, making it look like a living room even with the sparse decoration. As soon as the sofa hit the ground, slotting into place for them, Blake was reaching for the drill in Yang’s hand.

“What’re you doing?”

“Putting the door back on!” 

Yang blinked a few times, completely having forgotten about that. She burst out laughing and waved Blake off, backing away to do the job herself. 

* * *

“Mama broke the door?” Kade asked, his ears flicking in confusion as he looked up at his moms. 

“Mama broke a lot of things-“

“ _Mama_ is sitting right here,” Yang grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest as she pouted. “But I didn’t break the door, I put it right back on.”

“But you still broke it.”

“ _Kade_.”

“No, mama, _you_ broke the door,” Kade insisted, Kamari standing alongside him and nodding, both of them holding the cutest annoyed expressions Yang had seen in her life. She glanced over at Blake, who was smiling softly, book now discarded as her own story unfolded in front of her. 

“Yeah, I broke the door...” Yang said, shrugging as she smiled at her kids. Throwing a glance backwards, she threw her thumb in the same direction, right towards a small blue paddling pool she had set up in the yard. “You two don’t want to play in your pool?”

They both hummed, buzzing noises coming from their mouths.

An idea crossed Yang’s mind, mischief glinting in her eyes as she smiled over at Blake. “Do you want to play in the pool?” Yang asked.

“Don’t think about it.”

“What? You do?!” Yang yelled, jumping up and leaning over Blake. Blake saw what was coming, her hands reaching out to keep Yang at bay, giggling. The blonde continued laughing, her hands dipping under Blake’s legs to throw her over her shoulder.

“I think mommy might want to go into the pool!” Yang yelled, already jogging over to the paddling pool, two giggling children sprinting behind her.

“I hate you!” Blake laughed, lightly slapping Yang’s back. Her complaints didn’t take her too far though, as Yang only tossed her down into the paddling pool, almost completely soaking her. Blake reached forward and grabbed Yang’s leg, making her topple down on top of Blake, soaking her as well.

Another laugh escaped them, slightly breathless this time from the exertion.

“That’s so bad that I’m out of breath,” Yang said, chuckling as she wiped her face, dipping her head down onto Blake’s shoulder.

“Maybe you’re just getting old.”

“Shut up, you’re older than me,” Yang said, still laughing as she brought her head back up to look at Blake, pushing her bangs out of her face. They couldn’t resist the urge to lean in for a gentle kiss, tender in its touch and feel.

Her Faunus ears flicked, sensing something nearby. The water splashed next to them as their kids flopped into the shallow depth, which went up past their midriffs. The twins began splashing the water at them, causing both parents to smile and back away, searching for a way to get them back.

Their home was just one in a long line of miracles for them. 


	6. Family Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, Blake, Yang and Weiss recount the time where they all had family dinner for the first time. With an added bonus.

There was no question, not a single shred of doubt in Yang or Blake’s mind, that having any sort of guest over was the most stressful time of their lives. How one person could so much mental distress was beyond them, but it was happening.

Perhaps it was the way that whenever Weiss visited them, she tended to inspect every inch of their household as if she was a health & safety official. There was always the old joke of having to clean the house until it was spotless before having guests over, but that joke rang true whenever Weiss appeared.

“Why is the ceiling cracked?” Weiss asked, arms folded across her chest as she stared upwards, one brow pointed up. Blake and Yang shared a glance, the blonde shrugging at an unasked question.

“Because it needs repainted, we just haven’t got around to doing it yet,” Blake said, readjusting her glasses so they sat in her hair instead of on her face. On the other side of the dining table, Kade and Kamari sat, angelic faces staring happily up at Weiss. For as much as they complained about Weiss’ need to criticise everything, they loved her like a sister, which she technically was to them.

“It only takes, like, half an hour to paint,” Weiss says, both eyebrows raised now as she was about to make a point.

“We were waiting for the next time Tai or Ruby wanted to take the kids for the weekend-“

“I can take them.”

“ _Yes!_ ” The twins yelled in unison, jumping up onto their chairs and pumping their fists into the air. Blake’s smile faltered, didn’t know whether to be offended by how willing they were to taken off with their aunt for a few days or touched by how much they loved Weiss. Of course, the mother in her won over, being quite jealous in a way.

“Only if you stop showing off with all of your SDC lien.”

“ _What?_ ” Weiss shrieked, genuine horror crossing her features. Yang smirked, impressed with how well Blake knew how to press her buttons. “What’s wrong with me spoiling my niece and nephew?!”

“Nothing, it’s just that you don’t leave much room for us to buy them presents,” Yang said, chuckling as she leaned on her hand. Weiss cringed, unable to refute that point.

They were grateful for how attached she was to their kids, it was honestly amazing for them to see. But whenever Weiss took them for the weekend, which was fairly often now that they thought about it, the twins tended to come back with boxes filled with goodies from a shopping trip with their aunt. Which was great, they were happy with all of their nice clothes, toys and video games. But they couldn’t help but wish they had bought those gifts themselves.

“They’re kids, they’ll always find something else that they want. Plus it’s not as if what they want is expensive.”

“Weiss, the stuff you buy them is twice the price of my engagement ring.”

“And yet we still buy them it,” Blake mumbled, asking herself why exactly she spent so much money to keep her kids happy. Last Christmas she had been bullied into buying them the latest game console, _each_ , just through looking at their adorable little gaze.

“Gods, remember you two got engaged in here?” Weiss chuckled, motioning to the room around them. “It’s funny, it all just seemed like a formality. You were both practically married by that point.”

Yang hummed in amusement, moving down the table to help Kade open his new box of pens. Courtesy of Weiss, of course.

“I have no clue how you and Ruby weren’t able to slip up about it before then.”

“Blake, I think you mean you have no clue how Ruby didn’t slip up before then.”

“You tell me stuff all the time.”

They all paused for a moment, Yang glancing suspiciously between the two of them. The twins clearly knew more than any of them did, as they laughed and giggled at their expense. It was likely that ninety percent of the gossip that got spread through the family was through them. Typical, now that Blake thought about it.

* * *

  
“Yang, what time is it?”

“Time for you to relax.”

“I can’t relax, I need to get dinner ready before everyone arrives,” Blake growled, ears pinned back in annoyance as she batted Yang’s hands away from her hips. The blonde pouted, whimpering when she was denied any access to her girlfriend. 

“Dinner smells great, I don’t know why you’re stressing out so much,” Yang commented, hand reaching out to snatch a piece of pork from the pan only for Blake to bat her hand away again. The blonde cleared her throat, moving both arms behind her back, now warned not to touch the food. “What were the plums for again?”

“I’m making braised pork with plum.” She continued to skid around the kitchen, stirring a wooden spoon in the pot of boiling rice.

“Well...” Yang scratched the back of her head, t-shirt stretching up past her midriff as she did so. “What else can I do?”

“You can go sit down, you’ve did enough.”

“But I only cleaned up- can’t I help actually make dinner?” Yang whined, leaning on their kitchen island. Blake chuckled and shook her head at the blonde, letting go of the spoon in the pot. She smiled softly and pointed to the living room again, an attempt to urge her to go sit down.

“You’ve set the table, you’ve cleaned the whole house, you don’t need to do anything else.”

“ _Fine_...” Yang pouted, moving to lean over the food, cooking nicely and smelling even better. “Why don’t we make stuff like this any other time?”

“Because it’s a special occasion and I really don’t think either of us feel like spending three hours making dinner,” Blake said, both of them giggling at that. The truth was that they could make dinners like this if they really wanted to, it was just that they were far too lazy to do that.

“Are you nervous? Y’know, family dinner and all, parents, like, second time meeting,” Yang asked, playing with a fork she had picked up from the drying rack. Blake shook her head, busy stirring the rice again to keep it from sticking to the pot.

“Not really, I think we’ll be fine.”  
  


(Weiss snorted, chuckling. “That’s such bu- trash,” she said, catching herself before she swore in front of the kids. 

“I wasn’t, Yang was more nervous than I was.”

“I don’t blame her, Qrow and Tai can be a little overwhelming at first- maybe that’s just a Xiao Long-Rose-Branwen thing.”

“You’re an asshole,” Yang mouthed silently to Weiss, causing her wife to snort in amusement.)

So far, family dinner had worked out well. Ghira and Tai seemed to get on well, or maybe it was just because Blake and Yang had been plying them with alcohol. Either way they weren’t causing any problems, as they had planned for. Qrow and Kali seemed more interested in staying sober to talk about their kids.

Then Weiss and Ruby were here because they were part of the family, but they were also the conversation buffers. Weiss had called them both psychotic when they said they had planned out the entire dinner from start to finish but they would say they were more cautious than anything else.

What Weiss also knew about, because for some reason Yang told her everything, was that she had a four-thousand lien ring in her pocket, waiting for the right moment to slide onto Blake’s finger.

“Blake, since when do you know how to cook so well?” Kali asked, after finishing the last of her meal. Blake looked somewhat offended, her ears pinning back as she turned her head towards her mother.

“Always. I’ve just never cooked for you before.”

“Yang, does she actually-“

“ _Mom!_ ” Blake whined, glancing back and forth between her mom and Yang. The blonde chuckled along with Kali, both of them amused by their teasing of Blake.

“She does, but we take turns making dinner,” Yang said, smiling across the table. She gently bumped Blake’s foot under the table, her small sign of affection as she couldn’t reach across for her hand. Blake smiled and bumped her foot back.

“What age are you both, playing footsie under the table,” Weiss complained, nudging Yang’s arm, trying to get her attention. Ruby snorted and leaned across the table, stealing a piece of pork from Yang’s plate.

“Blake’s cooking is way better than yours, your cooking is trash,” Ruby said, laughing as she leaned back against her chair. Qrow tried to stifle a laugh behind his hand, Weiss joining in but not even attempting to hide her amusement.

Kali smiled across at her, saying, “Is it that bad?”

“It’s gotten better...” Blake said as she lifted her glass of wine to her lips, hiding the smile behind the red liquid.

“She burns everything,” Weiss said, a hand on the blondes shoulder and smiling as if she was supportive.

“Yeah, she burns everything and it tastes gross,” Ruby agreed, smiling and pointing at her sister. Yang blushed and nervously laughed, her head turning to the side as she sipped her beer bottle. Qrow chuckled again.

“Two against one, firecracker,” Qrow said, shrugging. Yang’s face dropped slightly, Blake grinning widely.

“Firecracker?!” Kali and Ghira exclaimed in unison, both of them glancing towards Yang. “That’s _so_ cute!” Kali said, laughing.

“You think _that’s_ cute,” Tai said, tone sounding as if he was bragging yet his words were slurred from the alcohol. “I call her my sunny little dragon, it’s what her name means.”

“ _Kill me..._ ” Yang mumbled, looking over at Blake for some form of backup.

“What’s so wrong about it? I think it’s cute,” Kali said, smiling sweetly as she looked between Blake and Yang.

“She’s just embarrassed,” Blake said, before draining the last of her wine. “It could be worse though. She could be like Weiss, who’s Beacon nickname is in tabloids now.”

Weiss’ eyes fluttered shut, pursing her lips as she prepared herself. Yang threw her arm over Weiss’ shoulder, muscles tensing as she pulled her close. “Sorry, Ice Queen,” Yang bellowed, happy for the teasing to be directed away from her.

“You’re so lucky I’m helping you with your engagement.”

Yang hummed as she took a sip from her beer, glaring at Weiss for saying it so loudly. Kali’s Faunus ears twitched at the sound. 

(“You were _so_ annoying that night.”

“Excuse me for not wanting to be embarrassed in front of my mother-in-law.”

“Babe, don’t lie, your ego was just hurt,” Blake said. Weiss snorted, laughing along with Blake.)

Yang sat with her hand dangling over the back of the chair, metal thumb tapping off of the neck of her bottle. It was safe to say that their dads were wasted, Ghira and Tai now both red faced and howling with laughter. The only two people who were actually sober were Ruby and Qrow, both of them sworn off drinking.

“When are you doing it?” Weiss whispered.

“Soon.”

“It’s almost ten, I thought you wanted to do it whilst everyone was here?”

“It’s in the g-“

“Yang?” Blake’s voice sounded out, a slight stumble to her walk as she stood up from the table. “You washed all the glasses, right?”

“Yeah?”

Blake hummed, swirling her glass in her hand as she stumbled off towards the kitchen. The blonde quickly circled the table, gesturing with her finger that she’d be right back. Not that anyone except Weiss noticed, accompanied by a wide grin as she watched them run off.

Blake hummed an unintelligible greeting to Yang as she closed the kitchen door, strolling over to Blake who was searching for another knife. Yang stood still, biting back a smile as she fished the knife around inside the glass, eyebrows raised as the gold ring hung from the piece of cutlery.

“Surprise...” Yang whispered, her hand curling around Blake’s waist. A bubble of anxiety was stuck in her throat, lodged there as she tried to gauge Blake’s reaction.

“ _Asshole_...”

“W-What?”

“ _I was about to do the same thing!_ ” She laughed, reaching into the cupboard below the sink, pulling out an empty wine glass with a ring at the bottom. Yang laughed slightly, shaking her head.

“Was I supposed to take a shot of the ring?”

“Shut up, I was gonna fill it up with whatever you were drinking,” Blake giggled, dipping her hand into the glass to fetch the ring. Her Faunus ears flicked around as she stumbled again, drunker than either of them thought she was. Her head dipped onto Yang’s chest, giggling as she grabbed her hand.

“So, do you want to marry me?” Blake asked, head tilting back as she looked up at Yang, one hand coming up to cup Yang’s jaw, so natural to them now that it was funny that it once never was.

“ _Yes_ ,” Yang sang quietly, dipping her head down to nip at her lips, somehow sliding together even through their smiles. Her smile widened at the sensation of Blake slipping the ring onto her finger. “Do _you_ want to marry _me_?”

“Yes,” Blake said airily, giggling against Yang’s lips before kissing her again. “ _Yes_.”

The raven haired girl braced her hands on Yang’s shoulders and bounced up, her legs wrapping around Yang’s waist, a hand tangling in her blonde hair as she brought their foreheads together. There was a happy lilt to everything about them in the moment, soft kisses being exchanged, giggles singing out.

“We’re actually getting married,” Blake whispered, rubbing her thumbs across Yang’s cheeks as she kissed her again and again.

“Of course we are. I love you, baby,” Yang laughed, pushing her hair back out of her face. “Why do you sound surprised?”

There was a light sniffle from Blake, so small yet so loud to Yang’s ears. “I just- I still don’t think I deserve you, but I’m so glad that I-I,” she cut herself off, a sharp sob breaking out of her. It would’ve startled Yang, if not for the tears that had fallen onto her cheeks from Blake’s eyes.

“Blake, you deserve everything you want, you hear me?” Yang whispered, setting Blake down on the counter. Gently thumbing away her tears, she ran a soothing hand along her thigh, a kiss being placed on the corner of Blake’s lips from the odd angle. “Honestly, anything you want, I’ll give it to you.”

“You don’t have to-“

“I want to, you _know_ I want to. You’ve got my heart, my love, my attention,” she gently grabs the hem of Blake’s shirt, holding it between her thumb and fore finger, “and apparently my clothes too.”

Blake laughed, smiling as she petted Yang’s cheek. “Fuck, I love you so much,” she says, sloppily placing a kiss to Yang’s forehead, dizzy now that the alcohol had full started to kick in. “I can’t wait to marry you.”

“I can’t wait for the wedding night,” Yang cooed, causing Blake to laugh as she trailed a few kisses along her neck.

“So this is where you two got off to,” Kali’s voice rang out as she entered the kitchen, rolling her eyes at Yang as she pulled back from Blake’s neck. The tiny red marks being more than enough proof for what she has been doing. “Honey, have you been crying?”

Blake blinked a few times, her ears pinning back as she wiped her face. “Uh, yeah, it’s just-“ she held her hand up, flashing the gorgeous gold ring on her finger, the diamond glinting in the light. Kali gasped, eagerly jogging over to hug them, already on the verge of tears.

“Finally!” Kali exclaimed, kissing them both on the cheek. “I knew one of you were going to do something like this tonight!”

Yang pulled back, lifting her human hand up to show off the ring on that as well. “Well, actually, we both proposed.” Kali gasped again, clasping Yang’s hand as she inspected the ring. The door swung open again, Weiss’ ponytail swinging back and forth as she ran over, accidentally slipping thanks her heels yet somehow not spilling a drop from her wine glass. She joined the group hug, slurring a small congratulations.

“How did you even know?”

“Your mom was gone too long.”

Weiss running in had caused everyone to peek inside the kitchen, wondering what all the fuss was about. Blake and Yang smiled shyly, holding their hands up so that they wouldn’t have to explain themselves any further.

The result was Ruby bursting into petals, landing on Yang’s shoulders as she cheered, Qrow actually smiling. But the most hilarious part was a pair of utterly hammered fathers cheering loudly, their fists pumped in the air.

Right before Ghira fell backwards into the table, the wooden piece of furniture snapping below him.

“ _Ghira!_ ” Kali snapped, charging over towards him. Blake and Yang could only purse their lips and laugh at each other. 

* * *

Blake smiled at the recollection of the night, easily being in both her and Yang’s best nights of their lives. Yang seemed to share the sentiment, leaning over the table to peck at her wife’s lips. Meanwhile Weiss was keeping the kids amused with the newest addition to her summons: a puppy. Which had both of the twins chasing it into the living room. 

“Unpopular opinion, but not my favourite night after I left,” Weiss said, chuckling as she sat down at the table, chancing a glance into the kitchen to see Kade and Kamari on the floor clapping as the puppy did a flip. 

“How is that not your favourite night ever, you saw two of the most important people in your life get engaged,” Yang said, laughing as she raised an eyebrow at Weiss. 

“Also did you not leave, go to a bar, then get laid? How bad could that night be for you,” Blake laughed again, offering her bottle of water to her wife, a shy smile telling her that she wanted her to open it.

“I did, but that girl was a psychopath which I found out when she lit my car on fire and left me a voicemail saying ‘melt, Ice Queen’,” Weiss laughed, her eyes widening slightly at the memory of it. The couple laughed, sharing confused glances, both of them not knowing that part of the story.

“Who did you sleep with again?”

“Why would I remember that, it was over ten years ago.”

Yang chuckled and rolled her eyes, saying, “And you used to say I wasn’t classy.”

“Wait,” Blake said, her face and entire being pausing for a moment to mull over Weiss’ words. “Did you say ten years?”

“Yes?”

“So our ten year anniversary must be coming up,” Blake said, smiling over at Yang, who nodded in agreement. “We need to plan something.”

“Know what you should get for your anniversary?” Weiss said, grinning as she leaned on her hand. “A divorce.”

“Haha, you’re _so_ funny,” Blake said, rolling her eyes.

“Weiss, I think you might be ageing backwards. Like, you get more immature the older you get,” Yang chuckled.

“It’s a midlife crisis, I’ll work through it...” Weiss trailed off, standing to walk into the kitchen, opening up the fridge. “Do you two have any wine?”

Yang and Blake shared another glance.

“I think you should stay here for a while,” Yang called out, leaning over the dining table to glance into the kitchen, just watching what Weiss was doing.

“Why?” Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow as she leaned on the kitchen counter. “My last mission means I could get setup at a hotel for the next few months.”

“Yeah, but the guest room is finished and you could stay in there. Plus it’d save you lien,” Yang said.

“Not to mention that we’re kind of worried about you,” Blake mumbled, quickly walking into the kitchen to remove the beer bottle from Weiss’ hand before she had a chance to open it.

“I... sure. If it’s not too much trouble...” Weiss said quietly. Blake nodded and looked down at the floor, where the twins were scrabbling onto one of the stools that sat at the kitchen island. Kamari looked over at them with expectant eyes, expecting some sort of an explanation for what they were talking about.

“Did you hear that sweetie? Aunt Weiss is gonna be staying for a while-“

The twins instantly started cheering, tripping over themselves to go hug Weiss. It was safe to say that it would be an interesting few months. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one can convince me otherwise that Weiss tries to be the cool drunk aunt, whereas Ruby is just effortlessly amazing to Yang and Blake’s kids.


	7. Wedding Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss, Blake and Yang look back on their wedding day. Where Weiss is stressed beyond belief whilst the bees have fun.

Blake was sat on the sofa, comfily curled up against Yang behind her. She was honestly half asleep, gingerly sipping at the glass of wine in her hand as Yang played with her hair. It was that time of week again, when their days off aligned and they could relax together once the kids fell asleep. Which was becoming increasingly easier with Weiss staying with them.

She sighed contentedly, smiling lazily as she tucked her head under Yang’s chin, lifting her glass up for Yang to take a sip. She chuckled and did so, before she pulled her head back to drop a kiss onto Blake’s head. Her ears flicked back, giggling as she took the glass away to set it down on the table, twisting around so that she could give her wife a real kiss on her lips.

She hummed, tasting something familiar upon Yang’s lips. “What’ve you been eating?” Blake asked, smirking as she swept Yang’s bangs back. The blonde scrunched her nose up.

“I had some of your little watermelon candies.”

“ _No_...”

“ _I did, I’m sorry_. They were too tempting because you left them out on the countertop,” Yang chuckled, running a soothing hand along Blake’s back as they shared another kiss. “I’ll buy you more tomorrow when I go out for groceries.”

“After all the hard work I went through to hide those candies from Kamari, and now _you’re_ eating them.”

“You’re so dramatic.”

“No, I can’t even look at you,” Blake said, smirking as she turned her head away, neck outstretched to the side. She slyly glanced back at Yang, who was smiling at her little act. She shook her head falsely, giggling. “Can’t believe you’ve done this to me.”

The blonde laughed again, tilting forward to trail kisses along Blake’s neck, to her jaw. Her head tilted back, chuckling breathlessly as she let Yang have her fun for a moment, enjoying the sensation of her lips planting kisses along the column of her throat.

“Well you two look cozy,” Weiss said, the stairs creaking under her weight as she stepped down them, a large book in her hand. Blake’s eyes fluttered closed, sucking on her front teeth, slightly miffed from being interrupted. Yang wasn’t quiet in hiding her frustration, however, as she leaned back with a loud sigh, pushing her bangs back into her hair.

“What’ve you found there?” Yang asked, pointing towards the book in her hand that she couldn’t quite see yet. Yang made a mental note to book an appointment at the opticians, deciding that a pair of glasses had been a long time coming for her.

“Your photo album,” Weiss said, crossing the room to plop herself down on the opposing sofa, flipping the book open. “I was looking at your wedding photos.”

“I loved our wedding but it was definitely a mess,” Blake chuckled, Yang nodding in agreement with her.

“To be fair, what do we do that isn’t a mess at one point?”

“That’s a fair point,” Blake said, eyes quickly darting over to Weiss who was helping herself to a glass of wine, photo album open on her lap.

“We look so young in these photos,” Weiss commented, her nail tapping off of one of the photographs. “I loved your wedding, it was fun.”

“You hated the ceremony, don’t lie,” Blake said, smirking over at Weiss whilst she idly ran her fingers through Yang’s hair. Weiss chuckled and drained her glass, shrugging before she poured herself another.

“I didn’t hate it, I was just _annoyed_ at you both poking fun at your own wedding.”

“We make fun of everything.”

“No, Yang, _you_ make fun of everything. You just seem to have rubbed off on Blake.”

“Well, I was trying to until you came downstairs.” She smirked, both Yang and Blake giggling as they watched Weiss suffer in silence. The white haired girl rolled her eyes, chuckling half-heartedly as she leaned back in her seat and took a sip from her glass.

Blake and Yang exchanged an odd look as they watching Weiss down alcohol as if it were water.

“Remember that morning when you were getting dressed? Most stressful morning of my life,” Weiss says, laughing. 

* * *

Weiss had been sprinting between Blake and Yang’s suites, helping them get dressed in the hotel. She found that they were both being difficult this morning, with their outfits, hair, makeup, everything they could complain about they did. 

The strangest phenomenon was that neither of them were nervous, if anything they were excited.

Yang stood silently, head turned away in embarrassment as her father fixed her tie into a proper knot. Something that she hadn’t been able to do on her own, much to Weiss’ chagrin. Blake was fine right now, Nora was taking care of her and making sure she didn’t go downstairs too early.

“Why’d you wear a suit again?” Tai asked, patting Yang’s shoulder pads before had stood back. “I mean, you look _great_ , I just would’ve thought that you’d like a dress.”

“You could still see my arm through every dress that I tried on, so I got a suit instead,” Yang said, smoothing her hair back and fixing the collar on her suit jacket. Again, Weiss let out an annoyed sigh as she fixed Yang’s hair back into place.

“I’m gonna kill you if you don’t stop doing that.”

“I’m _slightly_ moving my hair, stop acting like I’ve committed a murder.”

“It’s your wedding day so I’m not even going to reply to that,” Weiss said with a flick of her eyes. She watched Yang’s eyes fade to red in the mirror, both of them sharing an annoyed stare. Ruby and Tai shared a look of concern, glancing back and forth between the two girls, waiting for a fight to break out.

Instead Weiss spun on her heel, her hair floating as she did so. “I’m gonna check on Blake, be downstairs in...” she flicked open her scroll to check the time, “ten minutes.”

Weiss left the hotel room, heels clicking as she stormed across the hallway. She stopped to bark a few orders downstairs at Qrow, who immediately nodded his head and headed off towards the ceremony room as instructed by her.

“Why are you so high strung?” Blake asked as she walked across the hallway, a bottle of water in hand. Weiss noted how she was still in her bathrobe, yet her hair was perfection and her makeup was just as good, so she would let it slide.

“ _Why_ are you not in your dress yet?”

“Because Nora just finished my makeup and I was thirsty,” Blake said, smirking as she raised an eyebrow quizzically. She waved her hand and gestured for Weiss to follow her into her hotel room, sliding the door shut behind her as she entered.

“What’s got _you_ so uptight?” Blake asked, sitting down in the most delicate way next to Nora, who had since recruited Ren, Jaune and Oscar to the room.

“Your wife-to-be is driving me crazy,” Weiss said, suspiciously eyeing the boys, who were watching something on Jaune’s scroll.

“I’m familiar, she drives me _wild_ ,” Blake says with a slight roll of her eyes, leaving her mouth agape as she lets out a breathless moan. Nora chuckled quietly next to her, unable to hold it back. 

“ _Blake_! Quit saying stuff like that in front of Oscar.”

“Quit acting like he isn’t twenty years old.”

“He’s always gonna be fourteen in mind mind. Y’know what, you’re annoying me, too- put your fucking dress on.”  
  


(Blake and Yang both laughed quietly, lips pursed as they remembered how annoyed Weiss had been that morning. 

“You should’ve just left us to get dressed,” Yang said, chuckling. Blake giggled quietly, filling the blonde with a slight swell of pride that she had made her wife laugh, the feeling never getting old. 

“If I would’ve left you to get dressed, you wouldn’t have came down.”

“You shouldn’t have tried to plan our wedding.”)

The ceremony was an utter bore. Of course, Blake and Yang were still excited, but the officiant’s monotone voice was so boring that they were falling asleep whilst standing up.

Yang gently tapped Blake’s hand with her thumb, nodding down the way towards their hands. She made a chatting motion with her hand, doing the same with her mouth to draw a giggle from Blake. She could see Weiss glaring at them in the background, muttering something to Ruby who was next to her.

“Don’t, you’re making my mom laugh, too,” Blake mouthed quietly, both of them chuckling silently. The officiant cleared his throat, eyes narrowed at the both of them in a silent reprimand. Miffed, they both pursed their lips as they looked at each other again, reciting lines from the officiant over and over.

“Does anyone wish to object? Speak now or forever hold your peace,” the officiant spoke.

Yang’s cheeks filled with laughter, breaking into a loud undignified snort. Blake joined in, a hand on her mouth to try and suppress the sound, turned away to face the wall. She was afraid that she would be embarrassed if she were to be facing their family’s right now. Yang glanced over to wear Ilia and Sun were sat, Ilia’s freckles lit up pink as were Sun’s cheeks.

“I always forget that other people were in love with you at one point,” Yang said quietly, wiping a tear from under her eye.

“Yeah,” Blake said, shrugging before smiling softly, “but doesn’t it make you feel better that I chose you?”

“It really does.”

Yang paused for a moment, lazily smiling at Blake, lovestruck. She cupped her jaw and leaned forward to kiss her, unable to resist in the moment. Blake couldn’t either, readily accepting and wrapping her arms around Yang’s neck. The officiant tutted, shaking his head as he dropped his script to the ground.

“I pronounce you both married, I guess.”

(“I had to apologise to that guy for you both,” Weiss grumbled, rolling her eyes as she sank back into the sofa.

“So what, it’s was our wedding day,” Blake said, shrugging casually.

“You can’t keep using that as an excuse for every shitty thing you did that day.”

“Sure I can, it was the happiest day of my life.”

“You have two kids.”

“I stand by what I said.”)

It was official, Blake was the worst dancer on Remnant. Why she thought it would be a good idea to have a first dance no one knew, because she couldn’t dance to save herself. If Salem had challenged her to a dance off, Remnant would be fucked, that’s how awful she was.

She was gripping tightly onto Yang’s shoulders, eyes fixed to the floor as she watched her own feet. She couldn’t mess this up, not in front of everyone, not today.

“Blake,” Yang whispered, chuckling as she pulled her closer. Blake’s eyes flicked up, gaze fixed on her wife as she carefully stepped sideways with her, cautious of her own movements. “Stop thinking about it, just dance with me.”

“I-I don’t know- _you know_ I’m terrible at this.”

“You’re not, you’re too paranoid about it though,” Yang laughed. She straightened up, her grip on Blake’s waist tightening as she gently squeezed her hand, conscious of the metal against her skin. “Just trust me.”

Blake sighed, nodding and smiling as Yang began to lead her in a circle, guiding her along the floor with finesse. She slowly lifted her arm up, the gesture taking just long enough for Blake to recognise that she had to spin. Strangely, she was enjoying this. But she started to notice that they had been doing the same few steps over and over, and even she could recognise that something was off.

“Yang, are you-“

“I forgot the rest of the dance...” she whispered, dropping her head onto Blake’s shoulder, placing light kisses along her cheek. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

“Hey, you don’t need to apologise,” Blake said, cupping her cheek as they continued to sway. “This was amazing. We can just end the dance and get some drinks, yeah?”

Yang nodded, her hand sliding around until it was lodged between Blake’s shoulder blades, her other hand cupping the small of her back. Suddenly, she dipped Blake down towards the floor, drawing a bright laugh from her before their family cheered.

Their wedding was a riot, but they loved it. 

* * *

Blake had managed to snuggle her way under Yang’s dressing gown, stopping her from escaping if she even wanted to at all. Both of them watched as Weiss finished off yet another glass of wine, sharing a knowing glance with each other.

“Hey, Weiss?” Blake said softly. Weiss hummed in response, glancing over. “Do you think you drink a lot?”’

“I... suppose so...” she admitted half heartedly, sighing as she ran her thumb over her glass.

“What’s going on with you?” Yang asked, fixing the outside of her dressing gown so that it around Blake, keeping her warm. Blake hummed and nodded at Weiss, as if she was asking the same question without words.

“I don’t know... it’s just. It’s weird,” Weiss says, sighing as she chuckled half-heartedly. “Like, you guys are married with kids, and I’m still doing the same SDC bullshit. Plus I barely see anyone anymore.”

“So you’re overworked and lonely?”

“Yeah, basically...”

“You know you can stay here anytime you want though, right?” Blake said, a worried expression taking over as she looked over at Weiss. Yang hummed and nodded in agreement, saying, “Yeah, you can stay whenever you want.”

“I know... thank you for this, by the way. You didn’t have to let me stay here-“

“Weiss, you’re basically a live-in nanny, it would be stupid for us to not let you stay here.”

“How considerate, Yang. It’s not like we’re practically family or anything.”

“Yeah, well there’s _that_ too,” Yang said, smirking triumphantly now that she had lightened the mood. Weiss hummed as she set her glass down on the table, half full and not touched further.

“Rubys birthday is coming up, what are we doing for it?” Weiss said, with a flick of her brow. Yang groaned and buried her face into Blake’s neck, disappearing.

“I was hoping you would take care of it...” she mumbled.

“Why don’t we do something here? Something small with just our family,” Weiss suggested as she stood up, fixing her robe as she did so. Both Blake and Yang hummed in agreement with her, muttering small ‘good nights’ as she took off upstairs.

“We’re gonna regret this aren’t we?”

“ _Yep_.”


	8. When They Were Expected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake reminisces about the time she was pregnant, with the embarrassment of having to tell everyone about it.

“You know what I miss?”

Yang hummed, eyes closed and her metal arm behind her head, the other wrapped around Blake. They had went to bed later than expected, Weiss keeping them awake with ideas for Ruby’s birthday. Which was now doubling as a Halloween Party. Because of course it was, and it just so happened to be hosted at their home.

Their home. In suburban Vale. Purposely chosen to get as far away from everyone as possible. Yang growled at the thought of everyone at their house.

“Yang?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you listening to me?” Blake asked, gently tapping Yang’s chest. Yang hummed again, this time tilting her head towards her wife. “Yeah, I’m listening now.”

“You know what I miss?”

“What?”

“Being pregnant.”

Yang laughed, placing a kiss between Blake’s ears out of sheer adoration. That had definitely been the strangest nine months of their lives. Where Blake had a craving for raspberries- but not the normal way you’d think about it where you go to the super market and buy them. Oh, _no_ , she had decided she wanted _freshly grown_ raspberries, straight from the bush. So Yang started gardening so that they could be freshly picked for her.

It didn’t work out well, she still had to go to a nearby farmers market to buy some raspberries.

“What do you miss about it?” Yang asked, eyes cracking open. She had the feeling that she wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon now that this conversation had started.

“I miss how close we were during it. Remember when we used to take baths together all the time?”

“Yeah, I also remember having to shave you every week when you couldn’t do it yourself.”

“I _did_ tell you that you didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.” Blake smiled, nuzzling her way into Yang’s neck, lightly kissing along the relaxed muscles. A bubbly laugh escaped Yang, rumbling in her chest before came out through her lips. “Remember when we were telling everyone about it?”

* * *

Yang made an effort in making the drive to her childhood home as cool as possible, opening up the back windows and cranking the AC up. Blake was a few months into her pregnancy, just barely showing but the weight was definitely there. Noticeable from how thin she was before. 

She had started the whole hot flashes phase, which was a pain in the ass. Mostly because their electricity bill was sky high from having fans blasting all the time. But that was fine, just as long as her wife was comfortable.

“Do you think I’m getting fat?” Blake asked, inspecting her face in the rear view mirror, hands squishing her cheeks.

“The doctor did say you’d gain weight, you’re not getting fat though.”

“But _I am_ gaining weight?”

“Blake, it’s normal. You’re pregnant,” Yang said, shooting a soft smile her way. “Besides, you’re still gorgeous.”

Blake pursed her lips, turning her head to loom out the window. Yang didn’t need to see her to know that she was smiling, always welcomed that extra reminder. Lately, as she got more... well, _pregnant_ , she had this obsession with whether or not Yang was still attracted to her. So she liked to sprinkle in as many compliments as she could.

The car turned to park just outside of the yard. The house within walking distance now. As soon as Blake and Yang hit the ground, beginning to walk towards the house, the front door flew open, Zwei sprinting out. Blake, instinctively, grabbed Yang’s hand, ears pinned as Zwei began barking at them.

Tai stood at the door, his arms outstretched as he waved at them. 

“He’s such a dork...” Yang mumbled, chuckling.

“I like your dad, even if he thinks I’m holding his daughter captive.”

“ _Ah_ , but not against my will,” Yang quipped, flicking her eyebrow at Blake. Taiyang raised an eyebrow, smirking as he stepped aside to let them come in. He caught on to the little card Blake was holding in her hand, a pristine white envelope with gold decals.

“What made you both want to come out to sunny ol’ Patch for the weekend?” Tai asked, excitedly moving to sit on the chair across from the sofa. Still eyeing the envelope Blake was carrying in her hand.

“We have fantastic news,” Yang said, her game show voice coming out as spoke. Blake rolled her eyes and chuckled. “We got you something, something that you’ve always wanted.”

“A new truck?”

“No.”

“A new sofa?”

“ _No_...” Yang’s face began to drop, sensing that her dad wasn’t actually going to guess what they were about to tell him.

“We _could_ get you a new sofa though,” Blake said.

“Have I ever told you that you’re my favourite daughter-in-law?”

“I’m your only daughter-in-law.”

“Exactly!” Tai exclaimed, a happy grin on his face. Blake chuckled and shook her head, never able to understand his humour but knew exactly where Yang and Ruby got it from. Blake and Yang looked between each other, the blonde shrugging, gulping nervously.

“I’m pregnant,” Blake said. It was much harder to say out loud to someone that wasn’t Yang, for some reason.

“Nice,” Tai said, nodding his head. He clearly hadn’t fully realised what she’d just said, as he was still nodding his head, slowing down as he began to pause. “Wait! _That’s amazing_!” He cheered, immediately standing up and holding his arms out, offering a hug as he grinned at Blake.

She stood up and gratefully accepted, only for him to pull back suddenly, a confused look on his face. “So what’s in the envelope?”

Yang hummed and opened it, holding it up for him. “It’s the ultrasound photos,” Yang said, tapping her finger off of it. “It’s twins-“

“ _YES_!” Tai cheered, lifting Blake into the air, with her laughing and a little mortified. 

(“Remember when your dad liked me when I was pregnant, then went back to hating me after the kids started growing up?”

“He doesn’t hate you, I think he’s just jealous,” Yang chuckled, her hand sliding along Blake’s back. “Like, he’s still not used to me being an adult. But I think he’s getting there.”

“He’s making effort, he called me the other night to talk about Ruby’s birthday.”

“ _He did?!_ ”

“Yeah, my mom called as well about it-“

“Oh my god,” Yang cackled, “remember when we told _your_ parents that you were pregnant?!”)

Menagerie, was far too hot for a pregnant lady. To the point that, even though Blake was acclimatised to the island, she was no where near this level of prepared. She had been literally drenched in sweat before she and Yang had gotten off the boat, having to take a last minute shower and change into different clothes before she got off.

Before she had a nice little sundress on, a hat and purse to match. Now, she was wearing one of Yang’s vests, a sports bra and some shorts she found somewhere in her luggage to fight the heat. Yang tried her best to support her, as always, but the most she could do was hold up a little portable fan and wince, in pain for her wife.

“Are you okay, baby?” Yang asked, heaving their luggage up the stairs with her right hand, the other on the small of Blake’s back.

“I’m fine, I’m just dying to get inside...” Blake giggled, reaching forward to slide the giant front doors open. They never failed to scare Yang, although they had been known to let themselves in with more frequent visits.

Kali met them on the other side of the door, skipping down the hallway with her arms outstretched. Blake always forgot how different the house was now, having been completely renovated after the fire. Gone were the old fashioned marble floors, replaced with comfy tatami mats. She loved it so much more.

“You’re both early!” Kali exclaimed as she pulled Yang into a hug first. She then turned to Blake doing the same, before pulling backwards, a hand on Blake’s cheek. “You’ve gained weight.”

Blake’s face dropped entirely, replaced with an annoyed snarl.

“It’s not a bad thing, honey! I always thought you were too skinny!” Kali smirked and pointed and accusatory thing at Yang before walking backwards towards their living room. “I always blamed Yang for not feeding you.”

“ _I’m gonna kill her..._ ” Blake growled quietly, only being stopped from strangling her mother by Yang gently gripping her hand, smiling as they walked further into the house. Kali ushered them to their room to drop off their bags before coming downstairs.

Blake chose, very decidedly chose, to ignore the fact that their bedroom door could not shut over for some reason. She made a mental note to remind her mother that not only was she twenty-seven years old, but she was married.

“So who’s gonna break the news?” Yang asked, smiling, “‘cause I kinda want to do it this time.”

“Go for it, I might end up shouting at her instead.”

“You’re so harsh,” Yang laughed, rolling her eyes fondly as she walked into the kitchen in front of Blake, deciding if she didn’t take the lead Blake would probably end up in a bad mood with her parents. “What are you cooking, Kali?” Yang called out, the scent of food hitting her like a ton of bricks.

“Eggs, I’m making ramen for dinner tonight if you two would like some,” Kali said, smiling as she wiped her hands on a dishcloth.

“Eggs, huh,” Yang said, planting her hands on the countertop. “Kind of like the egg in Blake... that’s, _y’know_ , growing in there...”

Kali quirked up an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side with a confused look.

“She means I’m pregnant,” Blake laughed, shaking her head as she looked at her wife. “I have no clue what _that_ was though.”

Kali’s face lit up, quickly crossing the kitchen to hug her daughter, making sure to tug Yang into their hug as well. They both laughed at Kali, who had let a few tears stream down her cheeks. Every major moment in their life Kali had cried at, Yang supposed that just went to show how caring of a mother she was.

“How far along are you?” Kali asked. Blake hummed, taking a moment to sit on one of the stools at the kitchen counter, Yang helping her up.

“Around sixteen weeks.”

“How’s your libido-“

“ _Mom_!”

“What?! It’s a normal question!” Kali argued. It clearly was not, Blake though, as both she and Yang were mortified upon hearing it. “Mine was sky high when I was pregnant, we were at it all the-“

“Mom! Stop talking about it!”

“Is this because Yang’s here? Because normally-“ Kali cut herself off with a sigh. “ _Fine_! What about cravings then?”

Blake blew out a breath, leaning back into Yang, letting her wife gently catch her. “I’ve been craving a lot of fruit. _Oh_ , and I can’t stand anything remotely greasy. We’ve never ate so healthy.”

“Yeah, we’re buying all of our groceries from farmers markets,” Yang said.

“Isn’t that expensive?”

“Yeah.... it really is.”

Kali smiled, leaning on the countertop. Yang felt the extension to her and Blake, adoration and love. She didn’t know what it was like to have a mother like this, but she was glad that Blake did. In a selfish way, Yang enjoyed having Kali around. She was the mother she never had!

”Wait until Ghira hears... he’ll be over the moon.” 

“We haven’t even told you the best part yet,” Yang sang, her arms draping over Blake’s shoulders as she grinned. Kali raised an eyebrow, her face clearly expressing that she didn’t know how this could get any better. Blake hummed, nodding in agreement with Yang. “She’s right, the best part is that it’s twins-“

“Twins?!”

”That’s what I said when I remember I have to push these little gummies out of me,” Blake said, placing a hand on her slightly swollen stomach. Yang chuckled and did the same, a natural position for the two to them at this point. “Gummies?” Kali questioned. 

“They look like little gummy bears on the ultrasound, we’ve got a picture for you in our luggage. I’ll go get it actually-“

Yang cut herself off with an astonished look on her face, Blake sharing the same one as they both glanced down at her stomach, both of their hands unmoving. They had both felt it, tiny limbs bashing off of Blake’s stomach. They did it again, then again. Until Kali had reached over to feel it as well, a few tears being shed. 

“That’s the first time that’s happened,” Blake said, giggling breathlessly as she took her hand away, gripping Yang’s instead as she turned to her. “Do you think they knew we were talking about them?”

”I don’t know, they were really beating you up though-“

“I know!”

* * *

Yang chuckled, her eyes finally fluttering closed, feeling like this story was coming to an end. “Know what I don’t miss about you being pregnant?”

“What?”

“How expensive your cravings were,” Yang said, a bubble of air popping as she grinned, cheeks struggling to tense from how limo her body felt from exhaustion. Blake hummed, snuggling closer as she tugged their quilt further over them, the chill of Vale’s winter beginning to seep in. “It was worth every cent though.”

“I love you...” Blake whispered.

“I know,” she says, “I love you too, whether you have scars, stretch marks or anything else.”

“Stop being sweet, I’m trying to sleep.”

“Says the one who started this conversation?!”


	9. Ruby’s Birthday Bonanza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang and Blake host Ruby’s birthday party.

“I can’t believe Weiss is making this a costume party...” Yang grumbled, irritatedly grabbing at the fluffy patch sticking out from under her flannel shirt, scratching at it as though it were her own skin and not a part of the Beowulf costume she was wearing.

Blake chuckled, casually walking around and setting up the decorations in her vampire costume, almost as though nothing about it annoyed her at all. She took a few steps towards Yang after she finished packing away a few things in a cupboard, fixing the edges of the outfit, tidying it for her.

“Relax. This’ll be fun.”

“Will it really?”

“Yes,” Blake says, flicking her eyebrows as she pecks her wife’s lips, pulling back to press on her fluffy chest. “Could you do something for me, hon?”

“Of course.”

“Go help the kids get into their costumes whilst I help Weiss finish the decorations in the yard.”

“So _I_ get the hard job?” Yang said dryly, rolling her eyes. She might have been pretending that it was the worst, that she was absolutely hating every moment of today, but she really wasn’t. It was her sisters birthday and she was gonna get to see everyone. The only problem for Yang was the thought of cleaning up afterwards.

“Come on, go get them dressed. I’ll make it worth it for you later.”

Yang snorted, half turning to open the door but still gripping on to Blake’s waist. “Damn you Belladonna and your empty promises.”

Despite her complaints, she pressed a kiss to Blake’s forehead before treading off through the house, floorboards creaking beneath her as she went. There went the soft click of the door behind her, indicating Blake had already departed. She actually wanted to dress the kids, that was until they started getting far too hyper.

It was a rare occasion for Halloween this year. One that she may be telling stories of for the ages. All Hallows’ eve, a full moon out and on a Saturday night. She cracked a joke earlier to Blake about how she’d howl at the moon but she didn’t look too amused. Yang was amused though, as was their kids who always listened from afar.

Yang gently chapped on the twins’ bedroom door, gently pushing it open. Kade was stood on the bed, his little arms in the air and wiggling around as he tried to slip his costume over his pyjamas. Kamari was in a similar situation, however she hadn’t quite figured out that her costume buttoned up at the back and didn’t just zip.

“Hey kiddos, what’s going on?” Yang sang, hands on her hips as she looked down at her kids. Kamari dashed over, waving her arms in the air.

“Mama! Can you help me?” She asked, jutting out her bottom lip as she begged. Yang hummed and knelt down, helping fix each individual button into place. She knew how much of a perfectionist Weiss was, so the pressure was on to make sure there wasn’t an inch out of place on her kids. She knew how overzealous Weiss could get and Yang assured everyone, that if anyone looked at her kids the wrong way, she would kill them.

For some reason, her daughter had wanted to dress up as the hunts-man for Halloween, which neither she or Blake objected to. It was just that they should’ve figured out sooner that this would be her costume, as she had demanded the movie of repeat for months.

Then Kade... Yang sighed and smiled softly as she looked over at him, pulling the hood of his costume up and over his head. Kade was dressed Pumpkin Pete. Which was absolutely adorable.

“C’mere buddy, let me help you out,” Yang said, standing and gesturing to Kade, who was jumping up and down on his bed, his costume now hanging loosely from his waist. Yang walked over, gesturing for him to lift his legs up. He did so, allowing Yang to help discard his pyjamas, dressing him properly this time with actually clothes under his costume. The blonde ruffled his hair and yanked his hood over head.

“Mama!” He whined, lifting his arms up again, a small gesture now that he wanted her to lift him up. She did so, holding him on her forearm. “Mama, when does aunt Ruby get here?”

“Should be soon, mommy and aunt Weiss are fixing up the party outside.”

“Will there be candy?!”

“Yeah, there’ll be a _ton_ of candy!”

The twins cheered, Kade excitedly running around, her little toy sword raised in the air. Yang smiled and put Kade down, satisfied with how ready they were for Ruby’s party now. There was a soft knock on the door, followed by a soft jingle.

Unexpectedly early, Yang turned to see Kali standing in the doorway, two plastic pumpkin baskets filled with candy in her hands.

“Grandma!” The twins yelled in unison, sprinting towards their grandmother and hugging her as best as they could. Kali laughed and hugged them back, flashing a grateful smile to Yang who took the two buckets of candy from her.

“That’s nice that you’re both more excited to see me than get some candy,” Kali chuckled, gently tugging Kamari’s cape and Kade’s hood to get a reaction out of them. Kamari let out a whine before turning to reach for her bucket, accepting it from Yang before running off down the hallway, Kade following behind.

Kali smirked as she looked Yang up and down, giggling as she did so. “When Blake said you were a delight to look at in your costume, I didn’t think this was what she meant.”

“I’m supposed to be the Beowulf that the hunts-man beats up in that movie.”

“How nice of you to get beaten up by your three-year-old daughter.”

“Everyone will love it,” Yang said, shrugging as she placed her hands on her hips. There was the distant sound of Blake yelling, telling their kids to stop running in the house. Followed by a loud thud and a strangled cry. Yang sighed, already tired of the chaos. “How are things looking downstairs?”

“Oh they look great! I think Weiss is stressing out Blake.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

* * *

Kali was right. Everything looked gorgeous. It looked even better that night, when all of their family and friends were prancing around their garden, now filled with tables and decorations, a barbecue going on at the side. Tai was in his element. 

What was really getting on both Blake and Yang’s nerves, was the fact that everyone was guzzling alcohol like it was the last drink they’d ever have. Like how Weiss had tanked half of a bottle of... something, and was now leaning on Jaune’s shoulder for support. 

“I hope no one’s sick...” Blake murmured as she looked between everyone. 

Yang shook her head. “They can be sick in the yard, the rain will wash it away.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“It’d be even more disgusting if we had to clean it,” Yang reasoned, shrugging as though there was no threat of Weiss vomiting on their lawn. Which was a strange thought, in all honesty. 

Because it wasn’t as if there was just grass to vomit on. There was the wooden tables and benches they had set out for everyone, candle sat atop them as well as fairly lights connecting from the house to the trees above. It was gorgeous, Blake and Weiss had truly outdone themselves with the decor. 

On the centre of the table next to the barbecue - where Tai was cooking food like a pro - sat all of the food on paper plates, plastic cutlery and condiments sat alongside it for everyone to help themselves. As well as Ruby’s cake, which everyone had taken slices from at various sides like heathen’s. 

“I think we should leave the lights up after the party, I really like them,” Yang said, looking between the multicoloured lights and the world they were painting in a gorgeous glow. Blake hummed, evident that she was agreeing with her in the way that she seemed to perk up at the thought. 

Kali smirked at them from a few inches away whilst she was talking to Qrow, who seemed to share whatever joke she had just said. “Do you two ever separate from each other?” Kali called out. 

“We can’t, it’s in our marriage contract,” Blake said, drawing a laugh from Yang. “What the hell are they doing over there?”

Yang hummed, following Blake’s line of sight over to where Nora and Ren’s son Li was messing around near the bushes, Zwei right there alongside him. It was strange, maybe they’d found another animal or something, Yang didn’t know. She didn’t think it was that serious, anyway. 

“Hey, Yang!” Jaune called out, sauntering over with Kamari following behind him, a wicked smile on her face. “I bet I can beat you in a fight!”

Yang groaned, she couldn’t deal with this again tonight. Jaune and Kamari were both dressed as the hunts-man. Originally, Yang had dressed as a beowulf to humour her daughter, but Jaune decided to use it as an excuse to show off. “Jaune, _please_ -“

“Just _one_ sparring match? _Please_?” He begged. Yang relented with a sigh. 

“I’ll get us some food,” Blake said, chuckling as she patted Yang’s shoulder before walking away. 

Yang cracked her neck and adjusted her footing, getting lower to the ground. Jaune, even after all these years, didn’t know when he was in over his head. He adjusted his own footing, although he staggered slightly due to his inebriation. Kamari stood off to the side, cheering. 

Jaune made the first move, taking a few steps forward and throwing a punching directly at Yang’s face. Only for her to grab his fist. The look of sheer astonishment made Yang smirk. She swept his legs out from under him and practically flicked him over her shoulder, his back hitting the ground with a loud thud. 

“You’re so cool, mama!” Kamari yelled, hugging Yang’s leg with a huge grin on her face. Yang wouldn’t like to say that she wanted to toot her own horn, but she certainly would if her daughter kept hyping her up. The moment of pride still lasted, even after Kamari went running off after Li, into the bushes. 

“Why did he think sparring with you would be a good idea?” Ruby said, stepping up next to Yang. Ironically Ruby was the only one not in a costume, despite it being her birthday. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

“He’ll be fine, how’s Weiss?”

“Trying to eat a burger,” Ruby said, gesturing over to Weiss who was laying against the table, trying to eat said burger but failing miserably. Nora was in a similar situation at the other side of the table, however Ren was there to help her. “I think we should maybe wrap it up soon.”

“Oh, thank god.”

“What?”

“I mean, oh nooooo, you’re leaving? So soon?” Yang said, forcing a smile upon her face. She would never be so glad to see the back of all of her friends and families as when they were leaving her home specifically. Blake walked over, two burgers on a plate for the both of them. “Ruby’s thinking of leaving soon.”

“Oh noooo, _really_? Make sure to take everything with you on the way out.”

“You’re both assholes-“

A loud and obnoxious cry came from the bushes, Li and Kade running out of it. Both Blake and Yang looked on in horror as they realised that Kamari was nowhere to be seen, but the bright red eyes from within the bushes stuck out like a sore thumb. 

Kamari ran out of the bushes next, the Beowulf following behind her, its claws sinking into the dirt below. They were about to sprint over to save her, when their daughter cried and threw a punch towards it. 

However, a bright yellow glow appeared, almost the spitting image of Kamari, and with its claws extended, sliced the Beowulf’s head clean off. 

“Oh.... oh wow....” Yang murmured, deflating now that there was no real danger. Blake’s face lit up, elated at this revelation. 

“She unlocked her semblance!” Blake cried, shaking Yang’s shoulder with a grin on her face. “Yang, _she unlocked her semblance!_ ”

Yang was pulled into a swift kiss, initiated by Blake out of sheer excitement, before she was running over to her daughter. Kamari looked miffed by whatever had just transpired, almost scared but shocked more than anything. Blake lifted her up into the air, cradling Kamari as she gently tugged at her head. 

“I’m so proud of you! My little miracle child!”

Yang could only look on in awe as the Grimm began to fade out of existence. What an odd day... Blake turned to Yang, retaining her thrilled expression.

“We need to have a party for her unlocking her semblance-“

“ _Absolutely_ not.”


	10. Pre-School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kade and Kamari’s first day of pre-school, what could go wrong?

Weiss moved out shortly after Ruby’s party, going home to her own apartment in Vale. That suited Blake and Yang fine, they wanted a few moments to help their daughter figure out her semblance. Which was going quite smoothly, the only problem being that her seemed to react along with her emotions.

Their only complication came in the fact that Kade hadn’t unlocked his semblance yet. Which led to some very upsetting moments that they didn’t think a child of theirs were capable of having. So they both took their time to reassure Kade that he didn’t amount up to anything less than Kamari, that his semblance would come in time.

However, with most semblances came accidents and Kamari’s was no different. As she had accidentally broken Yang’s nose whilst they were practicing out in the yard.

Blake pursed her lips when Yang walked into the kitchen, tossing her keys down onto the kitchen island. She was dying to laugh at how stupid the nose cast looked on her wives face, not used to the look. Yang shook her head, clearly not amused.

“At least we figured out what her semblance consists of,” Blake said, a smile breaking free on her face. She couldn’t help it. Yang just looked so annoyed to the point that it was funny.

“Who knew that a mix of both of our semblances could be such a deadly combo.” It was true, Kamari’s semblance seemed to be a mix of Blake’s shadow clones and Yang’s ability to absorb damage before dishing it back out tenfold. However, Kamari didn’t actually need to take any hits. She could summon a clone to pack one hell of a punch before it disappeared again.

As demonstrated by Yang’s broken nose.

“It’s their first day at pre-school tomorrow, how you feeling about it?” Yang asked, coming to lean on the counter, playfully tossing their kitchen towel at Blake.

“Nervous. I get nervous when our _family_ looks after them for a couple hours, never mind total strangers,” Blake said, eyes widening slightly at the thought. It was a known fact that Yang was much more relaxed in the thought that they had raised their kids well enough to look out for themselves and each other. Blake however was paranoid beyond belief.

“You know it’ll be fine though, right?”

“I know it’s just that... I don’t know, I like knowing that my kids are alright.”

“They’re gonna be fine!”

* * *

The drive to the pre-school was filled with anxiety and excitement. With both Yang and Kamari, excitedly singing along to an Achievemen song, whereas Kade and Blake were nervous wrecks.

Yang brought the truck to a halt, getting out and helping the twins down. She helped them pull on their tiny backpacks over their jackets. Kade had a Pumpkin Pete backpack, which scared them into thinking he was going to be a mini version of Jaune. Kamari’s bag was much more normal, or, as normal as it gets. It was plain black with her mom’s symbols on it.

“Blake,” Yang said softly, pulling open the door for her. “You okay, hon?”

“Fine... I’m fine,” Blake says, sighing as she steps out of the truck, closing the door behind her. Kade’s ears flicked back before he reached up to tug Blake’s hand, weakly gripping onto her fingers.

“Are you okay, mommy?” He asked. Blake smiled and nodded, taking a half of his tiny hand. “I’m fine, sweetheart. Let’s get you both inside now.”

Kamari cheered, skipping ahead with Yang alongside her, making sure she wouldn’t fall or have some sort of accident before getting inside.

Inside the pre-school was... not what they imagined. It was just a colourful, miniature school. They even had multicoloured lockers named ‘cubby holes’, each set with a different animal painted above the lockers. Both Blake and Yang decided to scope out the place as though it were one of their mission locations, whilst their kids walked ahead of them, hand in hand.

“It looks... _nice_ ,” Yang commented, a strange sceptical look on her face that Blake couldn’t quite peg. “It does indeed...”

A girl with deep brown hair waltzed towards them, wearing the same uniform as the pre-school and a small name badge that read ‘Rebecca’. She smiled brightly, her eyes quickly scanning Blake and pausing for a moment when they reached the top of her head, before she turned away entirely to face Yang instead.

“Hi! How can I help you today?” She asked, far too perky for this time in the morning.

“Uh, we’re dropping our kids off for the first time... is there some sort of registration when we first come in or...?” Yang trailed off, watching as the woman nodded at them.

“Yup! That’s alright, you can sign it on your way back out,” the girl said, pulling out her wooden clipboard and pen. “What’s your son or daughter’s surname?”

“We have twins with the surname Belladonna.”

The girl hummed and tapped her pen off of the paper, nose slightly upturned in a cringe as she ticked their names off. Blake didn’t know if Yang caught onto that detail, but she certainly did. And she couldn’t say that she was thrilled with the snootiness of that attitude.

Kamari and Kade came running over, tackling Blake’s legs without actually moving her at all. A small boy with a gap in his teeth and two fluffy dog ears followed behind them. She supposed they had made a friend.

“So, is everything safe here for the kids? Like, they’re not going to get hurt?”

Just as Yang finished speaking, a loud noise broke through the radio in the corner, that hurt her ears never mind the kids below her.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to nitpick but is everything Faunus friendly?”

The girl didn’t even turn to acknowledge her question, instead only facing Yang. “I can assure you, your kids won’t get hurt and everything is perfectly safe.”

“Alright... well, I guess we’ll get out of your hair then,” Yang said scratching the back of her head sheepishly. Kamari hugged Blake’s leg tighter, whilst Kade was having some sort of ear wiggling competition with his new friend.

“Mommy, are you leaving?” Kamari asked, a few tears gathering at the edge of her eyes that broke Blake’s heart. She knew this would happen, however, she did think it would be Kade that would be more apprehensive.

“It’s only for a few hours sweetheart, we’ll be back to get you in no time,” Blake said, rubbing Kamari’s cheek before placing a kiss on her forehead, standing up before she ended up never leaving. Kamari whined but took a few steps back anyway, leaving the teacher to grab her hand gently, smiling.

“Be good you two,” Yang called out, waving as they backed away.

Rebecca began to lead Kamari off, smiling as she said something. Meanwhile the little Faunus boy was talking a mile a minute to Kade, who didn’t seem to care, only looking back at his mom’s now as they left. Blake’s heart broke again when Kamari kept staring back at her with watery eyes. Blake blew a kiss to them and waved, her bracelet jingling as she did so.

“Don’t cry, Blake. It seems alright here for them.”

Blake could only hum and tuck herself into Yang’s side, a horrible feeling settling in her stomach. She supposed that, for now, she would trust her wives judgement. 

* * *

It was nearing the end of the school day, and there was a sense of relief that came to them both that they hadn’t received a phone call yet. So they continued about their day, organising the house, moving things from room to room.

“Blake.”

“What’s up, baby?”

“I think we should convert the loft,” Yang said, walking backwards into their bedroom as she stared up at the ceiling. “We’re gonna need more space eventually.”

Blake raised an eyebrow, slightly caught off guard by the sudden request. They had spoke about it before, possibly converting the guest bedroom into either Kamari or Kade’s bedroom. But they hadn’t quite discussed the idea of converting the left or getting an extension onto the house.

“Yang, that would cost us a good few thousand lien...”

“It’ll be worth it. Maybe we can get an extension on the house too... maybe a guest house out in the yard.”

Blake blinked a few times, giving Yang a once over to check that this was indeed her wife. “Can nose breaks cause brain damage?”

Yang rolled her eyes, smirking as she placed her hands on her waist. A part of Blake wanted to crack a joke about how she dresses exactly like her dad, with her cargo shorts and vest top, but she would refrain from doing so. She was in pain so she’d just, y’know, leave her alone.

“The money from my last hunt came in, let’s just say it’s a lot more than what I thought I was getting.” Yang wiggled her eyebrows, grinning broadly. Blake tilted her head to the side, smiling at Yang’s unusual happiness. They weren’t usually that fussed over lien, so it must have been a fair amount of this was the reaction it had garnered.

“Eighty-thousand for a few Ursa’s and two King T’s, not bad-“

“Wait, I didn’t know that was your assignment,” Blake snapped, eyes narrowed and ears pinned back. “Why didn’t I know that?”

“You did, I told you.”

“ _No_ you didn’t, if you would’ve told me that I would’ve had a heart attack-“

“ _Listen_ , that isn’t the point. The point is, we have a _butt ton_ of cash and we can fix up the house,” Yang said, waving her hand as if she was putting the conversation behind her. But whilst she did that, Blake made a mental note to bring it up if they ever had another argument. Weiss called it psychopathic, Blake called it practical.

Before Blake could open her mouth to speak again, her scroll rang, vibrating against the bed. She raised an eyebrow at the unknown number before answering the call.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Mrs Belladonna?” The woman asked on the other end of the phone.

“Yeah, how can I help you?”

“We need you to come collect your daughter, there’s been an incident.”

Blake heart sank, but she agreed with the woman before hanging up her scroll. Yang eyed her curiously, taking a few steps forward to settle a hand on Blake’s waist, cupping her cheek as she looked at her. “What was that..?”

“I don’t know, they said that something happened with Kamari and we need to go pick her up,” Blake said, placing a swift kiss to Yang’s cheek before she swivelled away, bolting for her boots that were sat in the corner. “Can you get changed before we go, please?”

“What’s wrong with my outfit?”

“Hon, you know I love you-“

“It’s _that_ bad?!”

“No... just don’t wear it in public.” 

* * *

It was a frantic drive to the pre-school, followed by them marching down the colourful hallways to the office just off the side of one of the playgrounds. And by playground they meant a random arrangement of colourful mats and boxes of toys.

Blake noticed that Kade was sitting on one of the chairs, his same Faunus friend from earlier sitting aside him, both of them playing with little dinosaur figurines in their laps. Yang chuckled, unable to stop it at the sight. Her son made a friend...

“Hey, kiddo,” Yang sang, kneeling down to gently bop Kade’s nose with her thumb. “How are you?”

“Good! Kamari was crying though, Miss Rebecca gave her into trouble for something.”

“Will you be alright here for a few minutes then we’ll go home?” Yang said, gently patting his knee. Kade nodded in return, sadly glancing at his toys. Unfortunately, they didn’t really have time to dwell on that little thought, they instead burst through the office door, Yang slamming itshut behind her. 

Gone was the bright and cheery girl they met at the entrance, instead, there was a girl with a beet red face. Angry. Blake’s ears pinned back irritably, eyes narrowing. She got the feeling that she wouldn’t enjoy this. 

They both sat down in the two seats set out in front of the desk, Blake ushering for Kamari to come over to her. She didn’t get the chance to do anything before Yang was reaching over to gently grasp her chin, inspecting her daughters face for any imperfections. “You sit outside with your brother and we’ll catch up in a second,” Yang said, gently rubbing her cheek. 

Kamari nodded and skipped outside quickly. Yang flinched slightly and had to do a double take, making sure she did indeed see a pair of leather gloves on her daughters hands. 

“So, what’s this about?” Blake asked, crossing her arms over her chest. The teacher sighed and leaned forward, gently nudging something on the desk.

“Kamari was caught extending her claws whilst talking to another one of the children here, which can be seen as threatening behaviour-“

“ _Threatening behaviour?!_ It’s a part of her biology, plus we file her claws regularly so there’s really no harm done.”

“Mrs Belladonna, could you please lower your voice,” the girl said. Blake shook her head and sighed, settling back into her chair, having not realised that she sat forward in the heat of the moment. 

“We’re placing her on a final warning, next time she might be removed from the programme.”

”I don’t understand, my daughter doesn’t have a violent bone in her body,” Yang said. The girl eyed the cast on her nose, humming. “I’m sure she doesn’t, but she did show threatening behaviour. I’m sure you don’t understand.”

Blake and Yang nodded as they stood, Yang placing one hand behind Blake’s back and the other on her pocket. “You could’ve just said from the start that the place wasn’t Faunus friendly,” Yang growled, opening the door for her wife before promptly closing it behind them.

Yang flicked her hand at her kids, a scowl on her face as she did so that told them she meant business. “Come on, it’s time to go.”

“ _Wait_! But I wanna play with Christian again,” Kade whined, both he and his friend looking at them with wide adoring eyes. Yang sighed and pulled a pen out of her pocket, reaching towards the wall to rip a piece of paper off of a poster. She jotted down a number on it and knelt down, handing it to Kade’s friend.

“Give this to your parents and tell them to call us, okay?Then we’ll see when you two can play together again.”

She stood up again, taking a few steps towards Blake who was already ushering the twins out of the building. She couldn’t wait to get out of this place.

“Hey,” Yang says, gently grabbing her kids shoulders. “Wanna go for ice-cream?”

“ _Yes_!”

* * *

Blake sat in bed that night, staring at the wall as she waited for Yang to finish getting changed into her nightwear. 

“Still can’t believe that fucking racist _cunt_ -“

“Yang, it’s done now...” Blake growled, clicking the lamp off as soon as Yang’s bottom hit the bed. “I don’t want to send them back there.”

“Why don’t we teach them instead?”

What an odd suggestion, Blake thought, one eyebrow raised incredulously at Yang.

“I’m serious. If worse comes to worst we can always recruit Weiss to help us out,” Yang chuckled, sliding a hand beneath one of her pillows as she reached out to Blake, pulling her closer. “What do you think?”

“I think... I think it could work,” Blake said, nodding to herself as she considered it. “Let’s try it.” This could work. Blake knew it could. _Hopefully_. 


	11. Vacation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake and Yang go on Vacation to Menagerie. Yang just so happens to have other things on her mind.

Both Blake and Yang, voted unanimously within their household, decided to go on vacation to Menagerie. A week in the sun may prove to be good for the family, a few days to let loose. Plus, they needed a place to stay for a little while whilst the extension got built on their house. Once they got back, they could then figure out what to do next regarding their kids’ school and the extension.

“How did I get stuck with all of the bags?” Yang grumbled, a giant purple suitcase in one hand, a yellow one in the other, and two tiny suitcases for good measure.

“Because _you’re_ always showing off, so we put you to good use,” Blake said, smirking as she placed a kiss on Yang’s cheek, before waving at her mom who was already outside waiting for them. The twins sprinted over to Kali, with Kamari hugging her legs tightly.

“Rough ride over?” Kali questioned, moving to take the kids’ bags from their hands. Yang chuckled dryly, flashbacks of her wife relaxing on the boat whilst she wrangled their children into a fresh set of clothes.

“Not really,” Blake answered, effortlessly herding Kamari and Kade into the living room, her sunglasses settled in her hair as she walked around. Yang and Kali both shared an amused look, the blonde grimacing.

“If I didn’t love her so much, I’d kill her,” Yang said.

“If you didn’t love her so much, you’d ask her to lift a finger every now and then,” Kali said, waving the brightly coloured suitcases in the air. Yang tutted, shrugging as she took the cases back and began to haul them upstairs, unbothered by the fact she had to do this.

If she was honest, and she was, she wouldn’t have it any other way. In what feels like another life, she was lying in an abandoned city, echoing the sentiment that this was the life she chose to lead. It couldn’t be any truer now.

She felt Blake’s presence behind her more than she heard her come into their room. A laugh escaped her when she felt Blake wrap her arms around her waist, a kiss being placed to her neck.

“Go sit down, I’ll unpack,” Blake said, reaching around to grab the lid if the case, flip it open. Yang shook her head and continued to pull clothes out of the case, folded into neat piles, all perfectly aligned and ready to put on hangers.

“Fine, if you’re gonna be a pain then you can unpack Kamari and Kade’s things, I’ll get ours.” She didn’t wait for a response this time, just smirked and budged Yang out of the way, opening, pulling the various pairs of shoes out of their case.

“How much do you want to bet there’s a Pumpkin Pete plushie in Kamari’s case?”

“There won’t be, that’s Kade’s favourite. He can’t sleep without his Pete pillow,” Blake laughed, tossing her sunglasses down onto the bed as she moved to start stacking things inside of the wardrobe, metal hangers clanging as she did so.

Out of interest, Blake turned around to watch Yang unpack, gripping a plush rabbit out of one of the cases. “Hon, I think you’ll find that I was right,” Yang gloated, grinning as she waved the grey rabbit in the air.

“Okay, mother of the year, you were right,” Blake said, rolling her eyes playfully as she grabbed their second lot of clothes from the case. She leaned over to glance out the window off of the side of their bed, letting out a little gasp. “My parents have a pool and a hot tub.”

“Shut up.”

“No, they do,” Blake laughed, waving Yang over. The blonde hopped up alongside her wife, tiny shorts and t-shirts still in hand as she looked outside.

Sure enough, there was a gorgeous circular pool, vibrant blue and inviting. Alongside it was a hot tub, clearly defined by the way the water moved and the steam floating up from it.

“So instead of our midnight beach jaunt...”

“Absolutely, we need to use it.”

* * *

  
Vacation was usually considered to be a break. An escape from the day to day life. So here Yang was, at the beach with her family, playing with her kids and fetching drinks like she knew she should be doing. 

Blake made sure to get a few complaints in about her playing waitress, but she didn’t care. It was the polite thing to do. 

“Yang, hunny, come sit down,” Blake called out, waving her over. Yang grinned and waved her off, happy to sit in the sand with her kids. She was convinced they were trying to bury her, but they had yet to collect enough sand to do so. 

Kade was sat in front of her, a bucket of water collected for when he needed to pour it into the sand and his colourful Grimm cutouts in hand, making tiny sand Grimm, a little collection on the way. Down along the shore, was Kamari, her tiny feet leaving imprints in the sand, eyes focused as she picked something up.

Yang narrowed her eyes, staring from where she lay in the sand, Kade’s tiny hand battering off of her arm as he tried to get her attention.

“Mama, look at my Grimm!” He said, happily patting the sand around his new art.

“They look awesome, kiddo. But I’m trying to figure out what your sister’s doing,” Yang said. She heard Kade let out a small disappointed sigh, but she payed no mind to it, she would give him more attention in a moment.

Kamari turned and started sprinting towards her, something gently cradled in her hands as she ran. “Mama! Mama! Look what I found!”

Intrigued, Yang sat up, sunglasses pushed into her hair as she looked. In her daughters hands was a tiny turtle, bright green with yellow feet and a little blue spot on its forehead. Kade gasped, jumping to his feet so he could look at the turtle too.

“Can we keep it?!” Kamari asked, pouting as she passed the turtle over to her brother, too young to care about the concept of germs.

“I-“

“Of course,” Blake chimed in from behind her, picking up the bucket from the sand and holding it out. “You need to keep it in some water though.”

Yang blinked a few times, processing the fact that Blake had said yes to keeping a pet, something that she had expressed in the past was not an option. She wasn’t opposed herself, she just thought they’d have maybe a dog or a cat. Not a turtle.

“Alright,” Yang says, grunting as she stands. “Let’s see if we can get this little dude a tank to live.”

“Yang, go relax, I’ll-“

The twins cut Blake off with a cheer, both of them hugging the couples legs, jumping up and down excitedly. Blake sighed and resigned herself to the fact that they would have a family afternoon tank hunting. 

* * *

They waited until that night. When Blake’s parents were asleep and their kids were safely tucked in bed, both cuddled up with their respective plush toys. It was definitely one of their favourite sights, watching their babies fast asleep, cuddled up to their teddy bears and dreaming of wonderlands. 

Both of them slipped downstairs and out into the yard, as quiet as they could. Leaving a dim light on in the kitchen so that they could find their way back inside. 

Yang slid down in the hot tub first, exhausted, closing her eyes as she did so. Blake chuckled, lighting the torches that stood by each edge of the hot tub, lighting them in a warm glow that made everything feel so much more intimate. 

“Tired?” Blake asked, sliding down into the water and into Yang’s lap. Her hand slid up Yang’s right side, landing on the nub of her arm where a waterproof cap protected the base, fingers searching to make sure it was secure. 

Yang did little more than hum in response, dipping her head back to rest again the soft cushions along the perimeter of the hot tub. The Faunus girl nodded, taking that as a yes. 

“No wonder, you haven’t stopped all day,” Blake says softly, pressing a kiss to Yang’s forehead. “What’s going on with you?”

The blonde shook her head, pushing her hair back with her hand, cheeks flushed from the heat. “Nothing, I’m just... I don’t know.”

“Is it because you have to leave for a mission when we get back?” Blake asked. She kept her voice quiet, so that only her wife could hear and as a sign of respect for the time of night. Her forehead gently rested against Yang’s, noses bumping. She pushed Yang’s hair back again, fingers tangling in the hair on the back of her neck.

“Yeah... I just don’t like being away from you for so long,” Yang whispered, batting her eyelashes as she looks between Blake’s eyes and her lips.

“We’ve been together for twelve years and married for ten, I think we can handle a week apart.”

“It’s not that, it just scares me. Like, the thought of something happening and I’m not there,” Yang said, audibly gulping at the thought.

Several times she had woke up in a cold sweat, a nightmare showing her visions of blood splattered and her family gone. Even when she bathed their children, her brain would sometimes imagine that the water was blood, the results of carnage floating around them. She remembered when it first happened, when the twins were only babies and she snatched from the water, only for them to cry in panic. In fear of whatever had just happened. Yang knows it happens to Blake too.

“I’ll be fine, I know how to handle myself.”

“I know... I just get paranoid, I guess.”

“Why don’t we look into hiring a therapist again, how does that sound?” Blake asked, stroking Yang’s cheek. The blonde nodded and smiled, sleepily leaning into her palm, soft shallow breaths blowing out through her nose.

”You look really hot with your hair slicked back, you know,” Blake said, pulling away to fully worship the way Yang looked. She was, undoubtedly, unbelievably attractive. And she was married to her. Clearly, someone in the universe must like Blake enough to have granted her such luck. “You should do it more often.”

”Maybe I will,” Yang said, her hand playing with the straps of her one piece bathing suit. “I think we should look into getting our own pool and hot tub, maybe a guest house.”

“Yang, _where_ are you whipping this cash from? I’d love to know for the holidays coming up.”

“I’m a professional, I get paid.”

“Professional idiot,” Blake snorted, all too happy when Yang’s lips slid against hers, soft kisses being shared. It was the gentle pressure of the kisses that made Blake’s heart flutter, a feeling that proved over time that it would never go away.

There wasn’t enough moments like this in their life anymore. Always a chance that a tiny version of them would come tumbling in at any moment. Not that they complained, it was their life and they loved it. Blake supposed that sometimes she just missed her wife.

The door slid open, both of them slowly turning to face the house. Ghira stood in the doorway, brows furrowed and fluffy nightgown pulled on. “You know that I love you both, and I couldn’t be any happier for you,” he says, bracing them. “But it’s three in the morning, why in gods name are you out here?!”

“When else will we get the time?”

“At any other time that isn’t the middle of the night!”

Kali sidled up alongside Ghira, ears flicking as she glanced out at Blake and Yang, who were now both flushed with embarrassment from being caught out here at this time of night.

“Maybe we should join-“  


“It’s _fine_! We’ll just go back to bed!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, quick question for those who read this. Is an 1800s au in a kind of Jane Austen style appropriate for bees? Just, y’know, small thought


	12. Bruised But Not Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang comes back from a mission only for Blake to worry over her... constantly.

The ship that was departing to take Yang to her next mission was due in the early morning. And by early morning, Blake meant so early that she should be asleep.

Before she left, the ritual took place, one that they always partook in before one of them had to leave. Yang would wake Blake, gently kissing her goodbye, lingering for a few moments. Then she would move on to their kids, pushing back their hair to kiss their tiny foreheads, promising that she would be back. It would always end in Blake seeing her off, whispering I love you in the early morning light. Then the week that followed would continue as normal, albeit, slightly more lonely.

However, that was not the case. As they had decided, for better or worse, that they should homeschool their kids. They were smart, bought a whole series of guides on teaching their kids. It was easy! Plus, they were still too young to be learning things like hand-eye coordination, or so she had read. It was fine, just colouring books and a simple alphabet. What could go wrong?

“Alright,” Blake said, hands clapping together as she stood up. They had fashioned their spare room into a sort of classroom, specially for their kids. A tiny table and two chairs, a cubbyhole type shelf for their things and lots, and lots of stationary. “What do you guys want to do next?”

She was honestly a little uncertain of what to do. Usually Yang would be here to do half of the work so that she could use her office for work. Work usually consisted of typing up documents for her father and researching mission areas for her friends, but she couldn’t complain, they paid her some lien for it so she wouldn’t turn it down.

“ _Training_!” They cheered, tiny gleaming eyes beaming up at her.

Blake raised an eyebrow, unsure of what that meant. “Training?” she repeated back. 

Kade nodded his head and got up, skipping over to the corner of the room and sliding back a box. It revealed another, smaller, box which two wooden weapons inside. One sword, and one gun with a cork used as the bullet, a string attached so that it wouldn’t actually fire. At least that explained the tree that had been chopped out in the backyard a few weeks ago.

“Mama takes us into the yard to train all the time!” Kamari exclaimed, coming to take the sword from Kade and swing it in front of her. “Mama says that these are safer than real weapons.”

“Well they are but...” Blake sighed, unsure of what to do. Part of her wanted to kill Yang but she was also thankful that she hadn’t given them real weapons to practice with. She was just unsure of if they should have weapons or not. They were still her babies, after all.

“You don’t want to colour?” She proposed, pulling one of the many books off of the shelf. “What about painting? You love that.”

Blake glanced back them, their sad gazes held as they thought that they wouldn’t be able to train, Kade’s ears pinned back dramatically.

“Alright, we can train. But we’ll have lunch first, okay?” They nodded in response, happily skipping out of the room, their little weapons still in hand. Blake would be lying if she said she didn’t nearly die off when they pulled out two weapons, but she trusted Yang’s judgment and her ability to craft a safe practice weapon... to an extent.

She grabbed her scroll from her desk, Yang’s number already there on speed with just the click of a button. It only took a maximum of two rings for Yang to answer.

“Hey, baby. I was just about to call you,” Yang said, voice raspy.

“Hey, since when did you start Kam and Kade with weapons?”

“Sorry! It’s usually only a once a week thing because they begged me to.”

“It’s fine, I’m gonna take them into the yard soon after I make lunch.”

“Oh, don’t bother making lunch,” Yang said, groaning slightly. “I’ll pick something up on the way back. I’m almost home.”

Blake furrowed her brow and briskly walked to her calendar, used more by the kids than it was her but it was handy for tracking when one of them should be back from a mission. As she was sure, she had marked down that Yang wasn’t due to return for another two days.

“You’re back early.”

“Yeah, I finished early. How do you feel about those toasted tuna wraps from that downtown cafe we go to?” Yang asked, the sound of a bell ringing above and the door swinging open. 

Blake bit her lip, her stomach growling at the thought. “Sounds good. Remember and get something the kid’s will _actually_ like this time,” she said, putting an emphasis on her words. The last time Yang had brought home food, she had bought the twins a burger each and a basket of fries to share. It was when Kamari bit down into it and discovered a slice of cheese that she refused to eat anymore.

She supposed Kamari was very like Yang in that way. So strong but defeated by her own personal preferences. That being the fact that she was an extremely fussy eater.

“A little bit of cheese wouldn’t have killed her...”

“A little bit of cheese _will_ kill you if you do it again.”

“I know, I know. I’ll get it right this time.”

* * *

Blake was sat in the corner of the sofa, brushing Kamari’s hair back into a ponytail. They were still waiting for Yang to arrive. Not that she would be long, it had barely been half an hour since they last spoke. But she couldn’t say that she wasn’t getting impatient, her mumbling stomach getting the best of her.

The soft sound of a car, it’s wheels crackling over the pebbles of their driveway, was what caught their attention. Followed by the slamming of a door and a loud ‘Thanks, driver!’.

“Is mama home?!” Kade yelled, scrambling up to the window, jumping up and down on the sturdy ledge as he waved through the curtains. They didn’t take long to fly through to the hallway as the front door was pushed open, planting their feet on Yang’s foot and hugging her leg. Yet she still walked through, both of them glued to her body. 

Blake chuckled and shook her head at the absurd amount of food Yang had brought home with her. In her left hand was a paper bag, filled to the brim with boxes that pushed on the rims of the bag. In the other hand she held a large flat box filled with donuts, ice cream sundaes in a cup holder above. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Blake giggled, taking the donuts and ice cream from her before she dropped them. She pressed a kiss to Yang’s cheek, gaining a ‘blech’ from somewhere beneath them. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” Yang whispered before glancing downwards, the twins pouting up at them, cringing. “When did we get two little monsters?”

Blake rolled her eyes, chuckling when she realised that she was in one of those moods. She took off to the kitchen to store away the unnecessary amount of desserts she brought home with her, returning only to see Yang sitting on the sofa, still picking a fight with their twins. 

“Blake, are you sure these are our kids?” Yang asked, eyebrows raised dramatically. 

“I’m certain, they’re ours.”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Yang drawled, whilst opening up the boxes of food, peeking inside to see which was which. “If I remember right, and I always do, my kids love hot dogs.”

“Mama, I’m hungry!” Kamari whined, a tiny fist bashing off of Yang’s side. Her face contorted, breath hitching as her eyes flickered red. She gently grabbed Kamari’s wrist, shaking her head with a disapproving gaze. The tiny blonde got the idea, pouting as she turned away to get her food. 

“Kammy, want to get plates?” Kade asked, sliding off of the sofa and offering his hand. Kamari smiled and nodded, taking it as they ran off into the kitchen. Blake smiled at the sight, utterly adorable. She turned back to her wife, coming to sit beside her, a worried hand sliding over her collarbone. 

“Are you alright?” Blake asked, running her hand over Yang’s chest, keeping her touches light and chaste. “Are you hurt?”

“I actually think that I might be a _little_ hurt, but we can figure that out later.”

“Yang-“

“I’m fine! Okay?” Yang growled, half eyeing the kitchen to see if the twins would overhear. Luckily, they hadn’t heard one of the rare petty arguments yet. They planned to keep it that way. “I’m sorry, let’s just eat, yeah?”

Blake nodded, rolling her eyes, her mood soured now. Yang winced, a pang of guilt shooting through her. It was fine, they would talk later. She watched as Blake half smiled, watching Kade and Kamari running back in with plates in their hands. 

“Can we have the ice cream first?!”

They didn’t push further when Blake gave them one cold gaze.

* * *

They took to the yard once the food was digested and their tummy’s were settled, Kamari and Kade stood across from each other, both weapons drawn. Blake had to admit, she was impressed. They had perfect form. Stance correct and both of them able to judge where they were supposed to be with their weapon types.   


“How much did you teach them?” Blake whispered. Yang grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. “The basics.”

Yang took a few steps forward, half stumbling into a fighting stance. _That_ was something that Blake wasn’t particularly fond of watching. She knew, to an extent, that Yang was injured. And she wasn’t about to watch Yang strain herself further.   


“Why don’t I take over?” Blake said, stepping forward. “Let’s see what you’ve both got.”

The blonde sighed, brows furrowed as she relented and limped back to the garden bench and plopped herself down. Blake could tell from looks alone that she wasn’t happy about having to sit out this time, but she would deal with bad mood Yang later. Right now, she was genuinely intrigued.   


“Alright, let’s see what you’ve got.” Blake settled into a stance, already getting geared up to use her semblance.

They weren’t exactly predictable, however. Kamari threw her sword and launched herself forward, her semblance activating to toss Kade up alongside. But where he should be firing his gun, he gripped the barrel and used the butt to smack it off of Blake’s head. It surprised her, but she wasn’t too phased by it.   


She spun to grab Kade, only for him to panic and disappear into a small sliver of black on the ground, winding through Blake’s legs and behind her, where he reappeared and fired the gun.   


“Wait!” Blake and Yang yelled in unison, startling the twins. She gently gripped Kade’s shoulders, kneeling down to his level. “Sweetheart, since when could you do _that_.”

”I... I don’t know. I’m sorry-“

”No, no, it’s amazing!” Blake laughed, lifting her son up into her arms. She glanced over to Yang, who was gripping her side as she walked over. This seemed to bring a smile to her face.

* * *

  
“The twins are asleep,” Yang said softly, grunting as she limped into the bedroom, still dressed in her combat gear, although her boots had been long since discarded into the washing basket after Blake reprimanded her for putting her feet on the table.

Blake looked up at Yang, nodding before she went back to rifling through the centre drawer of their bedside cabinet. She raised an eyebrow, slowly walking over until she could look over Blake’s shoulder.

“Painkillers?”

“They’re for you,” Blake snapped, turning to push gently on Yang’s chest until the back of legs bumped into the bed, making her slowly sit down. “Take your shirt off, I want to see what happened.”

The blonde sighed and tugged on the cotton of her shirt, Blake helping to pull it up and over her head. She let out a small gasp, the cold air hitting her body. It was followed by Blake sitting down beside her on the bed, her hand ghosting over the bruised ribs, swollen and reddening.

“Yang, hunny, you really should have mentioned this earlier...” Blake breathed, gently cupping Yang’s cheek.

“I know. It’s just some bruising though, my aura would’ve healed any breaks by now.”

“You know I love you, but you’re too reckless-“

“But I’m fine!”

“But you might not have been!” Blake whispered harshly. Blake gently pressed her finger into the bruise, causing Yang to take a sharp breath. “Are you sure nothing’s broken?”

“Look, I’m fine.” Yang gestured to herself, Blake watching on with an unamused look, her ears pointed, gaze dangerous. “Are you mad that I’m injured?”

“I’m mad because you didn’t tell me it was _this_ bad,” Blake said, sighing and shaking her head as she got up to cross the room, Yang’s nightwear being pulled from a drawer. She but her tongue, staying quiet. Yang wasn’t in the mood to piss her wife off further, so she didn’t say anything. Just accepted when she helped get her into a comfier state.

They took their time setting up where Yang would be sleeping, pillows propped up, headboard readjusted into somewhat of a comfy seat. They had looked up how she should sleep online, taking the advice that she should sleep sitting upright.

“You’re gonna miss me cuddling you for the next couple weeks,” Yang said, eyelids heavy as she sank into the mattress, Blake pulling the covers over her before returning to her own side of the bed.

“Just wait until you’ve recovered. I’ll have you waiting hand and foot for me,” Blake said, smiling at her wife who was shrugging in response.

“Didn’t know you were into feet-“

“Oh, _shut up_ ,” Blake laughed, rolling her eyes as she curled up next to Yang, curling up to her side and pressing a few light kisses to the nub of her arm that still stuck out past the sleeve of her t-shirt. There was a beat of silence, soft breaths coming out as they were each lulled asleep by the others presence.

“I’m sorry...” Blake whispered, her hand sliding up and down Yang’s abs, unsure of how to hold her as they slept now.

“It’s fine,” Yang says softly, lifting her hand up to interlock her and Blake’s hands, eyes still closed. “You were worried and I was being pissy. It happens.”

“You know what I love about being married to you?”

“Apart from me?”

“I love that we don’t bicker all the time.”

“Yeah... just the odd thing here and there, it’s never serious though.”

”Exactly,” Blake breathed, smiling to herself. “It’s so perfect.”

Yang chuckled, coughing after she did so. So she was injured. She could deal with it for a few weeks, they had plenty to keep them going for a while.   


“I love you, Blake.”

Blake hummed, satisfied and tired. She really did love her reckless idiot of a wife, and she wouldn’t be the same if she was any other way. 


	13. Moments In Between

“I can’t believe that we let her keep a turtle...” Yang grumbled, holding her ribs as she finished cleaning up the filter on the tank, cringing at the waste before sliding back into the tank.

Blake chuckled and shrugged, smiling as she watched Yang shyly wave at the turtle, who was staring at her. “I can’t believe she called it Criminy.”

“I can, the little dude always looks shocked,” Yang chuckled, leaning to look out the window into the backyard. Blake chuckled, rolling her eyes fondly. “I think you mean ‘crikey’, love.”

Ruby and Jaune had came over, determined they were going to figure out their niece and nephews semblances even if it was the death of them. Which it looked like it could be judging by how Jaune was fairing. The sun was beginning to set now, they had been at it all day, battling back and forth, boosting aura to keep going for hours on end.

“Remember team training? That was fun.”

“Jaune’s team always lost.”

“Exactly, that’s why it was fun!” Yang grinned, chest puffed out proudly. Blake giggled and wrapped an arm around Yang’s waist, careful as not to press into any of the bruises that still lingered there. “Did Weiss tell you about her coming to take the kids?”

“No? The twins are supposed to be camping with Jaune and Ruby,” Blake drawled, skeptical. That was odd. Sure, their social circle all enjoyed taking turns with taking their kids off on some kooky caper of a trip. Which, in all honesty, neither of them approved as these trips ranged from anywhere between a shopping spree with Weiss to Grimm spitting with Ruby.

“ _JAUNE ARC!_ ” Weiss’ voice boomed from outside as she came marching around the house to the backyard.

Jaune visibly froze, going behind Ruby for protection. Despite knowing that this was admittedly their fault for agreeing that both Jaune and Weiss could take the twins this weekend without checking in with each other, Blake and Yang continued to watch. This was the most entertainment they would be getting. 

“If Weiss starts actually fighting Jaune, I get to choose what we’re having for dinner tonight,” Yang proposed, reaching her hand around to grab Blake’s own. Her wife hummed, ears flicking back in slight annoyance as she already had something in mind for dinner but it was no matter how. “Deal.”

“Aunt Weiss!” Kade yelled, climbing her like a tree despite her tiny stature before finally sitting on her shoulder.

“It’s terrifying how they can climb like that.”

“Oh, definitely.”

Weiss took a few purposeful steps forward, pointing her finger at Jaune. “Oscar called me and asked if I had seen you, because you are supposed to be helping organise the winter festival!”

“It’ll be fine-“

“Stop trying to steal my weekends!” Weiss yelled, flicking her hand to summon baby death stalker just inches away from Jaune. He screamed and swiftly kicked it out of existence.

“Why don’t you just come camping with us?” Ruby asked, wincing in preparation for Weiss to yell again.

“No, I wanted to take them ice skating, like most normal people do.”

Kamari gasped, a look of wide eyed excited on her face.

Blake leaned forward and gently nudged up the window, elbows braced on the windowsill as she leaned out. “So who’s taking my kids for the weekend?”

“You make it sound like we’re desperate to get rid of them,” Yang grumbled, chuckling half-heartedly.

“To be fair, I’ve had to look after you and the twins for the last few weeks. A break would be nice.”

Yang rolled her eyes but hugged Blake in support nonetheless. Blake hugged her arms, leaning further out the window, causing Yang to move with her. “Seriously, I want to know if my babies are gonna be safe or in _slightly_ safe hands,” she yelled, drawing a laugh from the twins.

They all watched as Kade and Kamari both exchanged glances, a lightbulb practically appearing above their heads as an idea popped up. “Why don’t we do both things?!” Kade yelled excitedly, tugging on Weiss’ sleeve. Kamari nodded enthusiastically, grabbing at Jaune’s and Ruby’s jeans in agreement.

All three of them looked at each other, shrugging. That thought they didn’t seem to mind.

“Guess that’s settled then,” Yang said, eyes closing as she melted into Blake. “A weekend alone is what it is then.”

* * *

Blake was stood in the kitchen, folding the freshly cleaned laundry up into a pile, separating each by who it belonged to. She glanced into the living room, where Yang was sprawled out on the sofa, the tv blaring in the background. 

She was honestly relieved to see her relaxing without protesting about how she should be helping Blake with the chores. Apparently, Yang had finally accepted that she was injured and had to rest. In a way, it was nice. A part of Blake enjoyed this, when she just went about her business whilst Yang did her own thing. 

Bundling the piles together, she strolled through the living and upstairs, her wife watching her as she passed by was a sullen look on her face. She wasn’t surprised when moments later, she heard Yang following her up the stairs. 

“Need any help?” Yang asked, her hand landing on the small of Blake’s hand. Blake had asked her to forego wearing her prosthetic for the rest of the day, to easy the strain on her body. You would assume that the prosthetic would be fine, but it put a fair amount of strain on the muscles of Yang’s arm. 

“I need you to go sit down,” Blake chuckled, organising their clothes into separate drawers. The drawers were slowly merging, give it another three years and they wouldn’t even have separate clothing. Yang hummed and pressed her face into the back of Blake’s neck, her arm wrapped around Blake’s waist. “Did you see someone moved into that cabin across from us?” 

“Yeah, a bunch of cars just pulled in. I think they’re having a party.”

Blake groaned, finishing up her work in packing away their clothes. She picked up the rest of the pile, and with Yang attached to her back, she walked off into the twins’ bedroom. “What are we doing when you’re done?” Yang asked, pulling open a drawer to help Blake pack everything away, chuckling at Kade’s little Pumpkin Pete pyjamas.

“I’ve got a few emails to send out for my dad, but that won’t take long. After that, we can do whatever you want,” Blake says, smiling as she begins to strip the bedclothes, pillows and quilts in a neat little bundle between the beds. 

It worried her when she realised how uncharacteristically quiet Yang was being. Particularly with how she had now spent fifteen minutes changing bedclothes and organising some parts of the tiny beds to look better. Blake glanced over at Yang, ears pinned back and a worried look on her face as they locked eyes.

It honestly shocked her when, out of all the things she could say, her wife asked: “Are you still in love with me?”

“Yang, of course I’m in love with you,” Blake said quietly, coming over to wrap her arms around Yang’s waist. “What brought that on?”

“It’s just... I don’t know. I feel like I annoy you a lot.”

Blake giggled, raising an eyebrow. “It doesn’t mean that I don’t love you.”

“Yeah, but-“

“Yang, do you remember what I said to you when I was going into labour?” Blake said, head tilted to the side with an amused smile on her face. “The thing that’s became a running joke.”

A light turned on in Yang’s mind as she recovered the memory, shaking her head and smiling fondly. “You told me to go fuck myself but you didn’t mean it, you were just in a lot of pain and needed someone to yell at.”

“Exactly, it’s just stupid little things that I say in the heat of the moment, which I regret. I still love you, Yang,” Blake says, leaning up to gently kiss her lips, Yang’s eyes fluttering closed as she sinks into it, her arm firmly locked around Blake’s waist.

Compromise was something that they had always perfected, whether they needed to or not, they could do it. In Yang’s mind, she could go over the list she compiled when she was sixteen about all the ways that she and Blake were perfect for each other; this just so happened to be one of the many reasons on that long list of things.

“So the next time I break a vacuum and you tell me to fuck off, it really means ‘I love you’?”

“Not on that one, you really need to stop vacuuming the entire house every few days because it _breaks_ the vacuum. It’s getting ridiculous.”

“How is our home being clean ridiculous-“

“Because we’re spending almost four-hundred lien a month on vacuums! That’s not normal!” Blake laughed shaking her head as she took a few steps backward. Missing her wife’s touch, she fell forward again, hands landing on Yang’s shoulders as she gently pecked at her lips. “But, yeah, I _do_ love you more than anything.”

“I love you too... wanna go see what the new neighbours are up to?”

“Absolutely.”

* * *

They were. From the coziness of heir porch, the couple could see that their neighbours were absolutely smashed on alcohol. Possibly drugs from the way one mans face dropped but they didn’t worry about that too much. 

“This isn’t... gonna be a problem for the kids, is it?” Blake said, skeptical of what she was watching. Yang hummed and shrugged, unsure of what to say. 

“Kam will be fine, I’m not sure if Kade will like them though.” 

“I’m having visions of Weiss going over there...”

Yang groaned and settled further into Blake’s side, crooning when Blake sank her hands into Yang’s hair, gently raking her fingers through blond locked and massaging her scalp. It was absolute heaven, to be sat on the porch, still warm despite the cold weather and curled up under a blanket next to her wife. Yang couldn’t help it, she hugged her wife and melted, eyes sliding closed and pressing a few lazy kisses to her neck. 

“So comfy... nothing could ruin this.”

“Your mom is here.”

“ _Ha-ha..._ ”

“No, Yang, Raven has just walked out of a portal metres away from us.”

Deciding to humour Blake in this lame attempt at a joke, only to discover that she hadn’t actually been joking. Raven was indeed strolling across their driveway towards the front porch. Yang groaned and tucked her face back into Blake’s neck, as though if she did that hard enough then Raven would just disappear. It didn’t work out that way.

“Charming, I was only dropping by for a quick visit.”

“And you’ll make an even quicker exit, _shoo_ ,” Yang chuckled with a pout, waving her hand to push her mother away, hoping it would be enough to repel her. Blake chuckled and hugged Yang more, admiring how fired up she was getting. She really shouldn’t have been admiring it, but remembering their wedding and the way Yang stood up for herself to Raven was a memory she cherished.

“I was dropping by to-“

“When are you leaving?”

“For the love of god- Blake, what is going on with her?” Raven groaned, pointing at Yang who was curled up against Blake, hidden under the blanket like a child. 

Blake shook her head, chuckling softly. “Her ribs are bruised.”

“So I take it you’re both not doing anything for your anniversary?” 

Yang shook her head, gently picking up her scroll from the ground. “Nah, we’re just ordering takeout and relaxing.”

Raven rolled her eyes, pulling out a set of keys and what looked like airship tickets. Yang raised an eyebrow, tentatively taking them from her and holding them up for Blake to see as well. Two adult and child tickets to Argus, a set of keys for... somewhere.

“What’s this for?” Yang asked, raising her eyebrow. 

“It’s for your anniversary.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re only supposed to get something for each other,” Blake chuckled. Raven laughed as well, rolling her eyes fondly. “It’s ten years, it’s a milestone. And I wanted to get you both something.” 

Yang sucked on her front teeth, bumping the tickets off of her hand. Blake understood what she was thinking, they had been together long enough that she knew how her wife thought. Clearly, Yang didn’t want to believe or accept the kindness, after Raven being so cruel for so long. It was only, really, after they got married that she started trying.

“Thank you... this was really nice,” Yang said, eyes jumping between the tickets in her hand and Raven.Nodding, Raven sat down on the other side of the bench the couple were cuddled up on. “What’s the key for?”

”Just go to the address. It’ll be a surprise,” Raven said, waving off Yang’s question. “What are you both doing anyway? It’s freezing out here.”

“Looking at the neighbours party.”

“You’re doing...what?”

“Making sure they aren’t trouble...” Blake said, eyes narrowed at the house across the street, ears pinning back, hostile. Yang nodded and did the same, gaining an odd look from Raven. “You’re... both psychotic,” Raven drawled. 

“It’s not psychotic, we’re looking out for our babies,” Yang said. 

“Kamari and Kade have never even went into the woods without you, I doubt they’ll cross the street.”

“We’re being safe.”

“Okay, I’m gonna go back and tell Tai that you’ve both got the tickets now.”


	14. Anniversary Pt I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang, Blake and the kids go on Ravens mysterious vacation.

“I told you.”

“You did indeed.”

“I knew it, I _knew_ they were trouble.”

“Yup, had them pegged from the start, babe,” Yang said, sighing.

Blake was still obsessing over their new neighbours, who they had now just found out were buying dust illegally. It was a little bit of a conflict of interests, really. On one hand, they could, potentially, help to bring down a dust-ring. But on the other hand, this was a very small and very secluded area that they lived in. There was only like... three(?)other people that lived in this area. Yang wasn’t too interested in being too involved with any drama.

“What do you think their kids are like?” Blake asked, still standing by the window, staring out across the street. Yang let out another sigh, rolling her eyes. She understood that Blake was worried, she was too, it was just getting ridiculous.

“Blake, can you come help me pack, _please_?” Yang cried, holding her ribs as she bent over to open up a drawer. Blake immediately snapped around, her hand landing over the one on Yang’s ribs as she stood back up straight with a couple t-shirts in hand.

“Don’t, I’ll pack everything-“

“My ribs are fine, I just want you to help pack instead of obsessing over the neighbours,” Yang said, flipping t-shirts and folding them into the suitcase, a few pairs of jeans and trousers following after. Blake scoffed, moodily snatching a pair of Yang’s blue jeans from her hands, expediently folding them before plopping them into the bag.

A guilty feeling shot down Yang’s spine, wincing as she watched Blake go about her business, frowning as she did so. Yang’s prosthetic hand gripped Blake’s hip gently, slowly moving closer. “I’m sorry...” she whispered, leaning in to kiss Blake. Her wife tilted her head away, ears pinning back. “Don’t be like that.”

“Uh, no, don’t you ‘ _don’t be like that_ ’ me.”

Yang chuckled at the odd mix of words that Blake could barely string together in that sentence. Blake threw another dirty look her way, this time spinning around to cross the room. The blonde chuckled and followed her, grabbing at her waist again, face tucked into the nape of Blake’s neck.

“ _Stop_! I can’t be annoyed at you when you get like this!”

The next thing she knew, Blake was being lifted into the air, her legs kicking to break free.

“ _Yang_!” She laughed, head thrown back as she did so.

Kamari and Kade appeared in the doorway, bouncing inside with cheerful giggles to join in the fun.

“My babies, help get mama off of me!”

“No! Don’t listen to mommy, I’ll buy you those cake-pops you guys love!”

In the end, the twins tackled them both to the ground. Their combined weight being too much for their poor bed to take and the sound of a wooden slat snapping rang out in the room. 

* * *

On the airship to Argus, they tried to brainstorm on where they could possibly be headed to. The only hint that they had was that they needed super warm clothing, so they assumed that there would be snow at this place. The twins had their money on a winter wonderland, but once they explained that it was Grandma Raven’s place, they changed their opinion to a graveyard. 

Yang had erupted with laughter at that, causing every other person on the airship to turn and look at her.

They had hired a car to get them to wherever they were going, only for the sat nav to take them around the darkest dirt road, piled high with snow. The sun had already set, leaving them in total darkness, with only the headlights and faint inclination of the road in front of them to see where they were going. 

“I think you kids might be right,” Blake mumbled trying to sneak a peak outside. “This might be a graveyard...-“

“Mommy look!” Kamari gasped, the car shaking as she began to bounce in her seat. Blake and Yang snapped their eyes to where Kamari was pointing, seeing a wooden lodge in the middle of the woods. Admittedly, they were impressed. A ski lodge wasn’t what they were expecting. 

Yang pulled the car into the parking space, getting as close to the porch as possible so that she could just haul their luggage in without falling on her ass. The twins decided to take the lead, stealing the key off of their mama and heading inside. It took a few expert skills from the two of them, including Kade holding Kamari in his shoulders whilst she flipped on the light switch.

They gasped, their tiny faces lighting up as they took in the scenery. The lodge was decorated with light stone bricks and wooden walls, some painted creme to match the decor. The ceiling seemed to be held up by wooden logs and beams, not a cob web in sight. 

“Wow...” Blake breathed, looking around in as much awe as the kids. Yang mimicked her shock, giving a low whistle as she looked around. The blonde decided, that as gorgeous as this lodge was, their first order of business was to get settled in. So she threw the door shut, picking up both her and Blake’s suitcases and throwing them over her shoulders.

“Let’s go see where we’re sleeping, huh?”

The twins cheered, sprinting ahead. Kade, especially, using his semblance to slip into a small shadow of himself, slinking up the wall and around the corner at breakneck speeds. They had considered that he could give even Ruby a run for her money, deciding that was something they had to brag about. 

“They’re gonna give me a heart attack one day,” Blake chuckled, fighting to take her luggage from Yang, her wife eventually relenting and letting her carry it. The upstairs of the lodge was just as incredible, a red carpet that ran along the centre of the hallway, creme curtains to accentuate the floor to ceiling windows, paintings that filled up the room. It was beautiful, all in all. 

Yang dumped their bags so that she could check out downstairs whilst Blake got the twins settled in first, she was not disappointed by their bedroom. In fact, a tad bit jealous that they hadn’t thought of it it themselves. 

Although the room was a tad small, it was made bigger by the wooden bunk beds that sat on one side of the room, stretching across the entire wall. The other side did the room, held their separate sets of drawers and giant teddy bears that Kade had sank into.

“This is cool,” Blake said as she looked at Kamari, who was sat on the bunk bed ladder. “What do you think sweetheart? Do you like it?” Kamari nodded her head fervently, a wide smile on her face. 

Yang came strolling in, a happy smile on her face. “Fridge and all of the cupboards are totally stacked up. Raven left a note saying that she had stocked up for us.”

Blake hummed. “That was nice of her.”

“Mommies! Can we play in the snow!” Kade screeched, pulling the curtains back and pointing at the snow outside. They couldn’t deny their kids the chance to have fun. 

* * *

They should’ve denied the chance for their twins to play in the snow. They had no idea how ridiculously competitive they would get in a snowball fight. 

Deciding to cut their losses, they teamed up with a twin each: Yang taking Kamari and Blake taking Kade. A horrible decision for Yang’s team. Because they didn’t, at all, think about how their semblances would factor into this, what with Blake’s clones and Kade being able to disappear almost completely.

Kamari and Yang had built up a small wall of snow that they were hiding behind, a pile of snowballs between them. Kade and Blake were pelting them with snowballs. It was safe to say, they weren’t winning. 

“Well, what now kiddo?” Yang asked, leaning down to fix Kamari’s hat over her ears, which she promptly pulled back off again. “You got a plan?”

Kamari shrugged, bundling snow up into her arms. “Rush them?”

In that moment, when her little girl looked up at her with a gap in her front teeth, a cheerful smile and bright blonde hair, with a reckless plan to boot, Yang could really tell that she was her daughter.

“I like it, let’s do it!” Yang chuckled, gathering up snow herself. 

They didn’t bother to even walk around, they both went straight through the wall of snow they had made, sprinting forward and throwing the giant snowballs they had made at both Kade and Blake. Kade swiftly sank into a shadow, moving to safety, Blake also stepping to the side to avoid the snow. 

Blake took a step back, winding up to throw a snowball, only for her to lose her footing and fall flat on her back in the snow. The blonde couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing at her wife. It was a rare sight of clumsiness that she would never get to see again. Blake’s ears flicked under her hat, the snow flying off of her. 

“I-I’m sorry, I was just too funny,” Yang chuckled, reaching her hand out to help Blake up. Blake, however, had other plans to pull Yang down into the snow with her, climbing on top of her and stuffing a piece of snow into her face as payback for laughing. “I think I won, Yang.”

“Are you sure?” Yang said with a smirk, an eyebrow raised. “I don’t feel like a loser right now.” 

Blake chuckled and rolled her eyes, helping push some of the snow off of Yang’s face (that she put there in the first place). Both Yang and Blake groaned in pain when two weights plopped onto Blake’s back, tiny giggles ringing out across the area. 

“I change my mind, I think the kids won.”

* * *

A few hours later, after dinner was over and a family movie was completed. Some animated bunny rabbit musical from years ago that kids still couldn’t get enough of. )Apparently, Kamari and Kade were not the exception to that demographic). Yang was sat in bed, on her scroll and messaging a thank you to Raven. Something she thought she would never do but had been proven wrong in recent years.

Their bedroom was, by far, the best room in the lodge. Their bed, for a start, was the comfiest thing Yang had ever lay on. Very cozy with its dark bedding and fluffy tartan bedspread. In the centre of the room was a stone fireplace, a gap on either side for the wardrobe and bathroom respectively. Blake had actually just started up the fire, closing over the curtains to the balcony to give the room a nice warm ambience.

“I’m considering getting a fireplace in our house now, I’m really liking this,” Blake said, closing over the door. 

“A nice brick fireplace would go nicely...” Yang added, reading over a message sent back from Raven. “My mom and Qrow are flying out tomorrow to ‘look after the kids, winky face’.”

Blake chuckled, picking up and draining the tiny amount left in her wine glass. “Are they staying here or..?” 

“I’m not sure,” Yang said, tossing her scroll onto the bedside cabinet. She settled back against the headboard, pillows propped up behind her. Her wife smiled, kissing her cheeks as she slid closer, the sheets mussed from them both moving around above the sheets. Gently, Blake’s hand slid along the expanse of her propped up leg, landing on Yang’s knee.

The blonde tilted her head to the side, dropping kisses along the length of Blake’s jaw, stopping to nuzzle her cheek with her nose. Blake giggled, turning to meet her, eyes slid shut, slowly capturing Yang’s lips as she savoured the moment. 

It was nice. They didn’t get warm and cozy moments with fireplaces and snow like this. A nice change of pace for them coming out here, which Blake would have to thank Raven for as well. “I love this,” Blake mumbled, only for Yang to hum in response, too occupied on trying to tug Blake into her lap to form words.

Not that Blake was complaining, it was heading to the inevitable from here. Despite being occupied by Blake’s lips, ever the multitasker, Yang tried to undo the belt on Blake’s nightgown-

“Mommies-“

Blake got the fright of her life, biting Yang’s bottom lip by accident. They both turned to face Kade, stood in his Pumpkin Pete pyjamas, the bedroom door still closed. To be fair, they were sure they hadn’t heard it open. Hence the scare they both got, Yang drawing the short end of the stick once again.

“Kade, _sweetheart_ , you need to _knock_ the door before coming in,” Blake sighed, a hand over her heart.

Kade had never been very good at social cues, they had tried to teach him as soon as he began to walk, but he never picked it up quite like Kamari did. They supposed be was still only three years old, that he would learn eventually. But it was a shame either way, because they knew he got frustrated when he didn’t understand.

His tiny ears pinned back in disappointment, playing with the sleeves of his shirt. “I’m sorry...”

“It’s okay... what’s wrong?”

“There’s people in the driveway.”

Yang pulled a face, thinking that Kade was just acting and that he really just wanted to sleep in their bed with them. “There’s not people in our driveway.”

To prove a point, the three of them trudged down to the front door. Sure as anything, there were shadowy figures in the yard.

“Holy shit...” Yang drawled, staring in disbelief. Blake squinted her eyes, hoping that her Faunus vision would help her see a little clearer. Kade quivered and gripped Yang’s leg for protection. Kamari, probably sensing their distress, stumbled downstairs and did the same to Yang’s other leg. “Should I go out there?”

“Yeah mama, get them!” Kade cheered, two fists bumped into the air. Blake was oddly quiet, her lips pursed.

Yang nodded a few times, psyching herself up to go out there. Sliding into her boots, she shook out her hands one last time, before throwing the door open, quickly pulling it closed behind her. The snow crunched under her boots, the figures ahead of her not even flinching as she approached. It was odd.

She wondered what it was-

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” she chuckled as she got closer. It was Blake’s fucking frozen clones from the snowball fight earlier. Satisfied and amused, Yang headed back inside to a sniggering Blake.

“You knew didn’t you?” Yang asked, her wife nodding as she laughed. The twins seemed positively entertained, joining hands as their mom’s marched them back upstairs. A strange end to a strange day, they thought, as they climbed back into bed after tucking the twins in again. Under the covers this time.

They were quite capable of falling back into that same mood they were in before Kade interrupted, doing so with ease as Yang crawled over Blake, a hand sliding up and down her thigh, to her knee to her hip-

A soft knock at the door. They both groaned and moved to settle back into the pillows. “Come in!” Yang yelled dramatically.

Both twins appeared this time, looking guilty as they closed the door behind them. 

“You both wanna sleep in here don’t you?” Blake

asked, smirking as she leaned on her elbow. The twins sheepishly nodded their heads in unison. Yang and Blake chuckled, pulling back the covers again to let them climb into the bed.

Typically, they crawled in between Yang and Blake, keeping them as far apart as they possibly could. It didn’t take them long to conk out to the sound of the fire crackling, finally beginning to dim.

Yang was gently stroking her hand through her sons hair, scratching behind his Faunus ears and watching them instinctually flick. “If I told you we’d be here ten years ago would you have believed me?”

“This specific scenario?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Yes,” Blake said, blushing as she chuckled, the heel of her hand placed into her hand from embarrassment. “Y’know when you were younger, and you’d really like someone, then you’d imagine them in all of these scenarios that just gave you butterflies?”

“I think so?”

“This was one of mine that I talked about to my mom just before we got married,” Blake said, chuckling as she watched Kade’s ears begin to flick furiously in his sleep, and the way that Kamari’s blunt claws would attempt to grip the sheets and fail.

The blonde smiled softly, tilting her head to the side. “How come you’ve never told me that?”

“I don’t know, it just seemed stupid, I guess.”

“It’s cute... I’m glad everything turned out the way it did.”

“Yeah? How?”

“I think our family turned out perfect.” That was something neither of them could refute. Their family was perfect and neither would trade. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaahhhh tysm for reading these rlly inconsistent chapters. For the people who also read Blinding Lights, forgive me if the chapter is late or delayed! My exams are starting up and it’s just stress. Anyways tysm for reading, hope y’all enjoyed!
> 
> Also if I’m referencing things I’m watching in my media class then yes I am.


	15. Anniversary Pt II

“Where are Raven and Qrow?” Yang grumbled, peeking out of their bedroom window to the drive outside. Still empty, aside from the two children building a snowman.

“There’s no rush, we’ve still got a few more days-“

“I know, but it’s the principle of the thing,” Yang grumbled, again, pointing a metallic finger downwards as if gesturing to the current time. Blake rolled her eyes. There was no pleasing Yang when it came to the Branwen twins. It was either too much to handle or too little to satisfy her. She tended to take a backseat to those sorts of complaints.

“Even if they don’t come, why don’t you just get dressed and we can all go for dinner,” Blake suggested with a sigh. In all honesty, she would be disappointed if they didn’t turn up. She had actually been looking forward to a few hours with just her and her wife, getting dressed up was just the slightly annoying bonus but she knew she would appreciate it herself later.

“Wait, you mean I can’t wear this?”

“Yang, can you please put on something nicer than a t-shirt and jeans?” Yang looked slightly dejected, grabbing at her shirt in offence, the obnoxious shade of yellow almost blending in with her arm. “Please? For me?”

“I will, I was just messing with you,” Yang said, smiling as she spins to open up the bathroom door, a set of clothes she had planned on wearing hooked behind it. A simple shirt and pants, more than enough to satisfy Blake. Her wife smiled and rolled her eyes fondly, turning to open up one of the drawers and pulling out a dark purple tie.

“Bonus points for wearing this?” She said, a hopeful lilt to her tone.

“Sure but... uh-“

“I’ll fix it on you, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, hon.”

Blake chuckled and busied herself whilst Yang got changed. Once she got back, she gestured for Yang to come over. Popping up her collar, she threw the lilac tie around, pulling the fabric around and through in practiced motions as Yang gazed lovingly. She always loved when Blake did this for her, because it was always the same process that she adored so much since the first time she did it for her when they had went to the Vacuo Gala.

Tie around the neck, twisted into a knot and tightened - but not too much - sitting perfectly. The collar would be popped back down, her thumbs smoothing the crinkled fabric of the shirt. Finally, Blake would smile warmly as she patted her chest, a signal that she was finished.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Blake asked, furrowing her brows yet retaining her smile.

Bashfully, Yang rubbed neck, smiling back. “It’s just, every time you fix my tie you do the same little routine.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah... I just- I don’t know, I like it,” Yang admitted with a blush. Which would probably be an odd thing to say once you were married for ten years but not for them apparently. They often blushed at each other. Blake hummed in response, turning to pick her scroll up off of the bed. “I hope Raven hurries...” Blake mumbled, gaining a low chuckle from Yang.

The blonde rested her head on Blake’s shoulder as she opened up her scroll, checking for any missed calls or new messages. “Either way, it’ll be a good night.”

“Something in mind, hon?”

“Only you,” Blake says, bringing a hand up to cup Yang’s jaw, twisting her head to press a kiss only her cheek. Yang smiled, satisfied and happy with that answer from her wife. Blake seemed equally as satisfied.

They both jumped when they heard the front door being thrown open, familiar bickering coming from downstairs followed by pairs of tiny feet sprinting down the hallway.

“Be careful!” Yang snapped upon seeing her kids running, the carpet putting them at risk of falling flat on their faces. Blake tsked and gently pushed on Yang’s chest. “What?”

“Don’t yell at them, they’re just excited.”

“Yeah, but...” Yang’s sentence died in her throat, she sighed and wrapped her arms around Blake’s waist, hugging her tightly. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“I’m always right, you know that.”

“I like when you’re feisty,” Yang chuckled, pressing a few loving kisses onto her cheek before pulling away, allowing Blake to gather a few of her things from the dressing table. Her wife gracefully hopped around the room, pulling her heels on as she pulled a jacket from the closet. Thinking better of her time, Yang moved to do the same. She pulled on her ankle boots and sidled up next to Blake to fish for her own jacket.

Blake reached over and pulled one down out of the few they had brought with them, one that Yang had thought of wearing but didn’t know if Blake would approve of. “This one?” Yang questioned, holding the peacoat up to her chest.

“I can’t believe I’ve been picking out your clothes for, what? Twelve years?”

“Yep. Together for twelve, married for ten,” Yang replied idly, the numbers permanently seared into her brain. (Possibly because she used them as her lottery numbers, along with Blake and her kids birthdays... _fuck_ , she was getting old.)

“Good, let’s aim for another twelve then we can call it a divorce,” Blake joked, smirking when Yang took her hand and leaned down for another kiss.

“You’re not getting off that easy, it’s till death do us part now,” Yang chuckled, Blake laughing with her and guiding her out into the hallway. They so often joked with each other about stuff like that to the point where Yang wondered if anyone believe their threats. She doubted it. Even a stranger could tell that they were solid.

Walking downstairs revealed Raven and Qrow having already settled into the living room, Raven bringing the fireplace to life whilst the twins sat on either side of Qrow, listening to a tale as old as Qrow can fake. Kade’s ears flicked back, turning around to face his moms as they walked into the room. He scrambled off of the sofa and began padding across the room towards them, hugging Blake’s legs.

Blake reached down to lift up Kade, who wrapped his tiny arms around Blake’s neck and cuddled into her. Kamari’s head popped up from the other side of Qrow, crawling to the edge of the sofa as she smiled at them. “You look pretty mommies!” She cried, bouncing up and down.

They chuckled, smiling at their daughter. “Thank you, sweetheart,” Yang said, shifting her hands onto her hips. “Nana Raven, what’s your plan for the kids whilst we’re out.”

“Food. Board games. Just whatever they want-“

“Snowball fight!” Kamari squealed. Their eyes widened at that but Raven and Qrow hadn’t flinched, clearly they hadn’t experienced a snowball fight with their kids and how they treated it as though they were atlas soldiers out for battle. Kade sat up and tried to wiggle out of Blake’s arms, making her place him on the floor so that he could run over to his grandma.

Seeing an opening now that they were too occupied by the prospect of a snowball fight, Blake and Yang began to back off towards the door. “Okay, we’re gonna take off. Be good kids,” Yang said, not waiting for a reply before dragging Blake out to the car with her. If they were too stay any longer they would probably get roped into some random hijinks.

“Maybe we should’ve just brought the kids with us...” Blake said whilst settling into the car seat. Yang hummed and raised an eyebrow, wondering why her wife would prefer that.

“If you’re worried about them, you know that Qrow is actually pretty good at-“

“No, I’m being stupid, I just miss them.”

“We just left.”

“No, like,” Blake sighed and bashfully scratched her neck. Yang smiled, throwing her arm over the back of the seat as she turned to look at Blake. She laughed, throwing her head back against the seat, causing Blake to let out her own confused giggle.

“Can I guess what the problem is?” Yang asked, smirking. Blake nodded, gesturing for her to go ahead. “You want to have another baby.”

“Yeah... we don’t have to, but-“

“Blake, I love you and our kids more than anything,” Yang said, grinning. “I want this if you do, we just might need to talk about it a little more.”

“Yeah, of course,” Blake chuckled. “We’ll talk it out.”

“Any names in mind?”

“I like Kyna, for a little girl.” Yang hummed and nodded as she started up the car. Then the realisation that if they were to have another baby, they would have to go through the whole pregnancy process again... with the added bonus of two kids thrown into the mix... 

Yang grimaced “I’ve changed my mind already, I can’t do the name thing again-“

“We had fun choosing names last time!”

“We had a mind map drawn up on our wall! It was insanity!” Yang barked out a laugh, Blake joining her as they both conjured up the mental image of the wall in the hallway. They were about to redecorate so they weren’t at all bothered by the fact that they had placed mad scrawling all over the walls, baby names with meanings and letters of the alphabet that they liked.

“You’re telling me there’s not a _single_ name you would like for another baby?”

Yang paused for a moment. Pouting as she thought deeply. “Kiara.”

“Kiara?”

“Yeah... it’s cute- _gods_ , what is it with us and names that start with ‘k’.”

“I really don’t know... I like that name too though,” Blake chuckled, whilst punching in the address for the restaurant they were going to. “Let’s just get toy day over and done with before the kids find the presents then we can talk about it more.”

“Absolutely.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it finally happened. I got burnout from writing and exams. I know, it’s a tragedy, but I’m back with this chapter and a late Christmas chapter that I’m dubbing as Toy Day because non descript winter holiday is too long for me. 
> 
> If there’s anybody who also reads blinding lights then uhhhh give me a moment I’m halfway done the next chapter.
> 
> ALSO I wrote some chapters of Kade and Kamari as teens coz I was watching modern family, so if anyone’s interested in seeing them... y’know, tell me. Coz idk whether to post them as chapters here or make a collection.


	16. Toy Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s the very late Christmas chapter! Sorry-

Of all of the times of year, Toy Day was never something Yang used to bother about. Until she had kids. Now she was sat in her hallway closet, waiting for Blake to tuck their kids into bed so that she could sprint downstairs with their presents and get them wrapped for tomorrow morning.

Truly, they were masters of parenting.

She stood there, waiting, her arms strained from the sheer amount she was holding within the shopping bags. She took a breath, leaning her head against the closet door. It was torture. As exciting as Toy Day was now, Yang was desperate to get wrapping presents over with so she could crawl into bed with her wife.

Her head snapped upright when the door gently opened, Blake shushing her with a finger held to her lip as she took a few of the bags that Yang was holding. They had never been so thankful for carpets in their life but Yang was also skeptical of her children’s superior hearing.

It was a challenge, but they successfully carried twenty-five bags full of presents downstairs to the living room... Blake wondered why they questioned where their lien went sometimes, it was their own fault.

Blake began to lay out all of the presents, wrapping paper rolled out and ready for war. It would be a tough few hours ahead of them. She glanced up at Yang who was sat with her brows furrowed, staring intensely at the bags then back to the toys and clothes they had sprawled out across the floor, separated in piles for which twin they would go to.

“What’s wrong?” Blake asked, already firing through presents with intense focus.

“Is this everything we have-“

“Yang, we couldn’t possibly get them anymore, I mean there’s two electric motorcycles in the garage for them,” Blake said dryly, ears pinning back.

Yang sighed and resigned herself to wrapping everything up along with Blake, speeding through a quarter of their pile in little under an hour. Perfect. They might actually get to bed at this rate. But then Blake paused as she came across a set of two remote controlled trucks.

“Should we give them to Kamari instead?” Blake asked, holding her head in her own hands as she stared down the presents. Yang glanced over and immediately snatched something out of her own pile.

“Switch for this little nail art set? Kade loves stuff like that.”

“Let’s swap them.”

They swapped and powered on, the clock they had displayed in the hallway audibly ticking the time away. Honestly, if they thought last year was intense wrapping presents then god knows what kind of fall of Atlas bullshit this was. Seriously, now their kids could just get up and out of bed to come downstairs and see what they were doing.

“Hey, Blake,” Yang said softly, gently wrapping up her next present before looking up at Blake with a warm smile. “Do you remember that first time we spent Toy Day together on Patch? When you and Weiss stayed with us for the weekend?”

“I do,” Blake chuckled, biting her lip to restrain a smile at the memory. “I remember you kept giving your dad eggnog until he went to bed.”

“It was my master plan to free up the living room for us.”

* * *

Winter on Patch was... harsh. And by harsh everyone who lived there meant it could compete with Atlas. Not that it was extremely cold, just that when a blizzard came passing through, everyone knew to stock up for the next few days because they wouldn’t be leaving their homes anytime soon.

It was just perfect timing that a blizzard would make itself known right as the team arrived to stay on Patch for a few days. But luckily, the Xiao Long-Rose residence was cozy enough to accommodate for everyone.

“Does your dad ever change the decorations?” Weiss asked, glancing from side to side as she waltzed along the hallway. “Because it looks the exact same as the last time I was here.”

“He likes it this way, I guess,” Yang said, shrugging. She honestly didn’t know what to reply to that question. She never really thought much of his decor other than it was well kept yet never changed. Blake shrugged it off as well and took Yang’s hand in her own.

“We’ll put our stuff in our room then meet you guys in the living room,” Blake said, pulling Yang off to the guest room. Weiss and Ruby didn’t have a chance to answer before the door was closed, allowing them a moment to breathe without the ice queen ready to execute them. It also saved for any awkward slip ups in front of Ruby.

Which was honestly one of the strangest things about their relationship. Ruby and Tai now announced when they were coming into rooms so that they wouldn’t have to see Blake and Yang kiss. Their family was close, just not that close to be comfortable seeing that.

Well, maybe if it was one of their weddings. But aside from that, it was mostly a no.

“When does your dad get back?” Blake asked, helping to refold and bad all of their things into the dresser drawer. She loved doing it. It always made her feel so domestic. Yang hummed and glanced out of the window, seeing only snow and the faint outline of their mailbox. “He should be back soon, right?”

“I think you spoke too soon, babe. His truck just pulled in.” Yang smirked and gently jabbed Blake with her finger, gaining a small yelp and a slap back from her. Blake giggled and hooked her arm around Yang’s neck, smiling as she leaned her head on Yang’s shoulder. The blonde smiled and leaned down to kiss the crown of her head, Blake’s ears tilting back at the affection.

Yang hummed and turned away, still holding Blake’s waist as she began unzipping something out of her suitcase. “Wait... I know we said that we wouldn’t do presents-“

“Yang-“

“ _But_ ,” Yang said, turning back with a soft smile as she offered up a small velvet box, wrapped in red ribbon. “I got you something anyway.”

“Well, I was gonna say that I got you something too,” Blake giggled, pulling out her own small velvet box, biting her lip with a guilty look on her face. “We’re not good at not being good to each other are we?”

“We’re not,” Yang chuckled as they softly exchanged gifts. “Did we also get each other something from the same place?”

“Most likely.”

They glanced at each other before being unable to hold back any longer. The ribbon was tore off and the boxes were open, fake gasps leaving both of their mouths. For Blake, a gorgeous leather watch and for Yang a gold ring with the head of a lion at one end and it’s tail at the other. The one thing in common that they had, was that they had both been hinting towards the other buying these as gifts for months.

( _“We still can’t go one holiday without buying each other a gift,” Blake said, laughing as she sellotaped one end of a present._

_ “I’m pretty sure we have most of the stuff we’ve given to each other though.” _

_ “Oh, definitely. I still have the promise rings you bought in Vacuo.” _

_ “You do?” _

_ “Of course, they’re in the little jewellery display cabinet on our dresser.” _

_ Yang blinked a few times, shocked but at the same time not at all.) _

Blake sighed, her head resting on Yang’s chest and her ears folded back, comfortable and warm. Weiss and Ruby were sat on the other side of the sofa, sharing a blanket. Weiss having pulled it up to her chin. The only thing visible was her furrowed brows and judging eyes.Tai had insisted that this was the greatest movie he had ever seen in his life, even though it was a mushy romance about a cowboy going through Vacuo. 

That Blake seemed to be the only one enjoying by the looks of things. Ruby and Yang were playing a game with each other on their scrolls, an amazing feat from Yang seeing as she was cuddling Blake at the same time. Weiss was focusing on the movie, completely confused by how the main character was getting around Vacuo so quickly. And Tai... well, he looked happy with Zwei in his lap and a cup of eggnog.

“Baby, can you pass my drink over, please,” Yang asked. Blake sat up, fishing the cup of tea off of the table and - instead of handing it to Yang like a normal person - she held it up to Yang’s lips to take a drink. The blonde giggled and took a sip, thanking Blake with a kiss to her temple before going back to her game. 

“Y’know,” Tai started, already slurring, his cheeks a rosy red and that wasn’t just from the fire. “It’s nice seeing you two together. The last time Yang had one of those lovey-dovey, doe eyed looks was when she was thirteen.”

“Oh yeah?” Blake said, amused by the blush that was creeping up on Yang’s neck and flaring on her cheeks. “What happened?”

“It’s stupid, we don’t have to-“

“No, Yang, we have to let her know about ‘the most beautiful woman you had ever met’,” Tai drawled, dramatically flaring his hands out. 

“Please _no_...” Yang said, tucking her head into Blake’s neck to hide herself. 

“She had a crush on the woman who worked in the bookstore,” Ruby said, smirking across at her sister who looked back with a look that held nothing but betrayal. “Every weekend she would go to the florist and buy a bouquet of flowers for her.”

Blake threw her head back as she laughed, Yang nervously scratching at her cheek. “Yang was heartbroken when that lady got another job.”

“Okay, _okay_... let’s not embarrass me tonight,” Yang said, chucking as she lifted her head back up. “I take it the rest of the stories are being saved for later years?”

“Absolutely, I have them in my calendar,” Tai said, cheering himself before draining his eggnog. He stood up and stretched his limbs out, stumbling to the side only for Zwei to keep him upright. Blake always had to laugh at what might possibly be the smartest dog on Remnant.

“I’m gonna hit the hay, you kids don’t stay up too long,” He said, waving at them as he took off upstairs, Zwei following behind him. It wasn’t long until Weiss and Ruby followed as well, Weiss being far too disappointed by how the film ends to stay up any longer.

Which left Blake and Yang to cuddle on the sofa, Yang drawing circles on the back of Blake’s hand with her thumb. 

“You know, I found out something tonight.”

“What’s that?”

“That you have a thing for girls who read.”

* * *

Yang huffed and shook her head at the recollection. Piling the presents up on the ground for the kids to come down to in the morning. “He did actually leave all of the embarrassing stories for after we got engaged.”

“My favourite was the one about you setting the house on fire when Tai tried to cut your hair.”

“I don’t like like when people touch my hair!”

“You like when I do it,” Blake said, smiling softly as she helped arrange the presents into a neat pile. Moving to pack away the spare wrapping paper and any scraps away to the closet, leaving the floor spotless. “You like when I cut your hair too.”

“I’d rather my wife cut my hair than some stranger in a mall,” Yang said in an attempt to defend herself. But Blake smirked, knowing her all too well.

“I’ve been cutting your hair since before we were dating.”

Yang grinned and turned away to begin heading upstairs.

“Admit it, you just like when I cut your hair-“

“I’m not admitting anything!”

* * *

When morning came, they were surprised that the twins hadn’t burst in to wake them at the crack of dawn. Which was honestly a godsend for Blake because Yang had never been a morning person. She liked two things in the morning: Blake and breakfast. Both of which were a godsend because Blake was capable of doing both. 

Their kids however were not so lucky. Because as much as she loved them, if anyone but Blake woke her up, she would want to strangle them. So the fact that it was seven in the morning, Yang was still asleep and the kids apparently weren’t up yet either, was a godsend. 

Blake lay on her side, resting her eyes as she petted Yang’s head, weirdly enjoying the snores coming from her wife. Toy Day wasn’t peaceful the first year they had the twins, or the second. Because everyone rushed over to see them and spoil them with gifts. But they had decided that this year everyone would stick to a strict schedule, made by Weiss. Which was basically the law. 

Yang cuddled further into Blake, letting out a long sigh against her neck. Blake chuckled. “I take it you’re awake?”

“Mhm... preparing for them bursting in here in the next minute.”

“It might not be the next minute-“

The sound of tiny feet sprinting along the hallway sounded out, both twins trying to shush each other even though they made no attempt to mask their noise at all. The door flew open, two tiny bodies scrambling their way up onto the bed. Blake could see disaster where Kamari outstretched her claws, prepped to dig into Yang’s back. 

“Kam... _no_ ,” she said sternly, watching as her daughter frowned and climbed back down off of the bed. Unlike his sister, Kade took a much more gentle approach, plopping himself down in between both she and her wife, an innocent look on his face. Yang chuckled and sat up, reaching for her prosthetic, she motioned to the door with her hand. 

“Okay, let’s get downstairs and see what you got this year,” Yang said, stumbling out of bed and picking up their lazily discarded dressing gowns from the night before. The twins cried out and began sprinting into the hallway, Kamari dragging Blake by the hand. Yang laughed and followed behind them. 

“Kammy look!” Kade yelled, his ears flicking as he bounced over to the stacks of presence, lifting the little name card that read ‘Kade’ into the air like a trophy. Kamari happily bounced over to her pile, grinning as she held up one of her presents. 

“Can we open them?!” Kamari asked, Kade happily bouncing in place alongside her. Blake nodded as she was being marched to the sofa by Yang, hugging her waist from behind as they walked. “Of course you can!” Yang laughed, enjoying the sight of them tearing into their gifts. 

They didn’t know if this was how every parent felt or if they were just insanely attached to their children, but watching them tear the wrapping paper into shreds and their little faces lighting up at their presents was one of the best parts of their year. But it was as they got to their final presents, now sitting amongst all of the wrapping paper and inspecting their gifts, that Kade began to smile at the board games.

“Kammy do you want to play these with me?!” Kade asked, offering one up to Kamari. She smiled and nodded her head, pulling her own pile of board games over with her to give to Kade. “Why don’t we play with mine today and save yours for tomorrow?” 

“Okay!” Kade chuckled, smiling as he tapped his hands off of the box.

Blake leaned into Yang, playing with the fabric of her dressing gown. “Do you think we should ask the kids about having another baby?”

Yang raised her brow. “Right now?” Blake nodded, pursing her lips. Who was Yang to question her wife’s judgment. “Let’s ask then.”

”Kids,” Blake said, the twins’ attention snapping to her even though they were itching to get their hands on Kade’s nail set, her son dying to have someone do his nails. They both sat that with expectant gazes, and Blake found herself freezing for a brief moment. “How would you both feel about... another little brother or sister-“

”They could play Remnant with us!” Kamari bellowed, holding the game up. Kade nodded in agreement. “And I could paint their nails!” He said.

”So you both like that idea?” Yang asked, quite surprised at their reaction. They both nodded and went back to their business, now officially turning their attention to all of their new toys. “Guess we’re having another baby then,” Yang chuckled quietly.   


“That’s what I was thinking about as well,” Blake said, “before we have another baby, we need an extension on the house-“

”Done.”

”Seriously? You’re agreeing that quickly?”

”Yeah, I want to turn a room into a gym and give the twins their own bedrooms,” Yang said, backing up her idea. Blake hummed, unable to disagree with it. An extension meant enough room for everyone to have a separate bedroom, and they could always convert the loft too. Their home turned more and more into a DIY project everyday. 

Blake looked back at their kids, where Kamari was now painting Kade’s nails and sticking on little gems. “Are you seeing this? They’re best friends.”

“We need to call everyone and tell them.”


	17. Home Visit

In the new year, Blake had presumed that their life would ramp up a notch, what with them all agreeing that another baby may be on the cards. However they hit a sort of stalemate. Yang went on a mission to start raking in lien like they had done before. And since she had gotten back yesterday they just kind of... lazed around.

And... maybe Blake avoided the topic because she had been dreading going to her doctors appointment to check that the whole pregnancy thing would be alright. And after that... lovely meeting today, she was a teeny-tiny bit terrified of being pregnant this time around.

Blake pulled into the driveway and gracefully stepped out of the car, bag of groceries in hand. It seemed oddly quiet... especially seeing as it was Yang who was home alone with their kids. That usually meant the twins would be walking over Yang like a doormat, bending her to their will.

Closing the door quietly behind her, Blake’s ear tilted to listen for any signs of life. Nothing. She could see the tv was on though. It was then that she saw a tiny ear flick on the sofa, and she knew where to start. Placing her grocery bag down onto the floor, she tiptoed over to the sofa. Where Yang was, fast asleep, one twin tucked under each arm and equally comfy if their soft breaths were anything to go by.

Chuckling, Blake leaned down to gently kiss Yang’s forehead, pushing her bangs aside to do so. Yang smiled thinly, her eyes fluttering open. Blake’s petted lip came out, bringing her hand up to gently stroke Yang’s cheek. “Sorry, I was trying not to wake you.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Yang whispered, sighing sleepily as she looked at her kids, both of them still dozing happily. “How was the doctors appointment? What’d they say?”

Blake opened her mouth to speak, pausing and twisting her face to the side, forcing a smile. “It was... great-“

“Hon, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not!” Blake said defensively, skipping off to pick up the bag of groceries from the floor and hurrying into the kitchen.

Letting out another disgruntled sigh, Yang brought her hand up to wipe her face. Kade sniffled and leaned into his mom, his fist balled up on her chest. Whilst Kamari on the other side was cuddling into her bionic arm, which must have been uncomfortable but she had always seemed to like it. Carefully, Yang dislodged her arm and left it for Kamari to cuddle, replacing the rest of her with one of the sofa cushions for Kade.

She trotted into the kitchen after Blake, who was distracting herself by tossing her groceries into the fridge and the cupboards. The blonde raised her brow, chuckling quietly at her wife. Blake had this way of avoiding things where she literally avoided the subject by all means possible. 

“Are you alright?” Yang asked softly, knowing whatever was going on was a very delicate situation. She swore in another life she was an expert bomb disarmer. Blake bit her lip, clutching her elbows as her ears flattened against her head. Not a good sign either. “Blake, tell me what happened.”

“The doctor said that... if I was to go through with another pregnancy, it’s more likely that my scar tissue on my abdomen could rupture from the stress.” Yang hummed leaned on the counter, taking it in for a moment. “And that it is recommended that I get a C-section for this next childbirth... which I was also recommended not to get because of my wound.”

Yang sighed and stood up straight, wrapping her arm tightly around Blake’s waist and ushering her to lean on her. Which Blake did, letting out a shaky breath as she clung to Yang’s shirt. “It’s okay...”

“I really wanted this...” Blake sobbed quietly, hands slipping into the hair at the back of Yang’s neck.

“I know... It’s okay we’ll figure- adoption.”

“What?” Blake asked, grasping Yang’s shoulders, one hand trailing down to the nub of her arm. “Did you say adoption?”

“Yeah, we can adopt a baby,” Yang said, shrugging. Blake stared at her blankly, hands sliding up to tangle in her hair again, squeezing into the muscle of her neck. Yang’s brows furrowed. “It’s fine if you don’t want to-“

“No!” Blake snapped, her voice scaring herself into slapping Yang’s chest lightly. “I mean, no, that’s a great idea.”

“You can just say if you don’t agree-“

“I do, I just feel stupid that I didn’t think of that,” Blake said, giggling as she hugged Yang again, her mood completely different from a moment ago. Yang curled her arm around her waist, resting their foreheads against each other. It was something that Blake always appreciated. She liked the connection of it, smiling giddily. “So you’re actually onboard with this? You’re not just suggesting it to make me happy?”

“No, I think this’ll be great. I mean, we’ve got plenty of lien saved for this and that’s without the couple missions we have lined up-“

“And we’ve also just spent twenty grand on an extension for the house,” Blake said, a light reminder of how bitter she was about that. The kids and the baby better appreciate their own bedrooms, Yang slept on the sofa for two days for this and she still hasn’t started on converting the loft. “We also still need to buy new furniture, get stuff for the twins’ birthday-“

“Let’s stop listing things, we’re supposed to be happy.”

“Then there’s all the paperwork for the adoption-“

Yang groaned and turned away, skulking back to the living room. Blake laughed, hurrying to hug Yang from behind, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. “Oh come on, I’m teasing.”

“You’re hilarious, hon,” Yang grumbled as she sat down, the twins sleepily moving to curl into her side again as she reattached her arm. She smiled as Kamari gently gripped her tank top and Kade rested his head on her lap. Yang pursed her lips, brows furrowed as she rested her arms over them protectively.

Blake bit her lip and fiddled with her scroll in her pocket. “Uh... I was thinking about starting to call up adoption agencies.”

“Yeah, I’ll come help-“

“No, Kade and Kam look comfy. Just stay there.”

”But-“

”Stay. There.”

* * *

They didn’t think adopting a baby would be hard, or all that different from having a baby on their own. Which was not true at all. Because, for a start, they had to keep calling and asking for dates of when they could come and see the kids at the orphanage. That, and they were to sign off on a shit ton of forms to say that they were suitable parents.

(Both would say they couldn’t understand how anyone could say otherwise but they could think of a few circumstances that they weren’t so responsible.)

Then there was another pain in their ass which was the home visit.

“Yang, have you vacuumed the stairs yet?” Blake yelled into the hallway, casually fixing Kamari’s hair into two pigtails with ribbons wrapped around them. Kade had been ready for the visit for what felt like hours now. Having matching cargo trousers with Yang and one of his many Pumpkin Pete t-shirts. This one was black with the rabbit wearing a bow tie on it... he called it his ‘fancy’ shirt.

“Yes I have,” Yang sang, skipping past with the vacuum in her arms. 

“What about the hallway?” 

“Done that too.”

Kamari lifted her arms up, flashing her best puppy dog eyes for Blake to lift her up. She lifted Kamari up, grunting as she did so, her blonde daughter smiling as she gripped the flannel that Blake had thrown on. Far too large for her thanks to it belonging to Yang and perfect for Kamari to grab onto. 

Yang sauntered in, smiling easily at her wife and son, ran up to hug her leg. “Did you clean the windows downstairs?” Blake asked, gaining a grin from Yang as she stepped closer.

“I got everything I said I would,” Yang chuckled quietly, gently pecking at Blakes lips. Blake hummed and smiled, savouring their kiss for a moment longer before Kamari let out a whimper and began pushing Yang’s face away. They both laughed, Yang turning to look at Kamari only for her to growl and cuddle into Blake’s neck. “Can I not give your mommy a kiss?”

Kamari shook her head. “No.”

They both laughed, Yang placing a kiss on her mood daughters forehead as the doorbell rang downstairs. Yang had to grab Kade to prevent him from sprinting downstairs to answer the door. “Right on time,” Blake said, marching everyone downstairs. 

She was vaguely nervous about opening the door to the woman from the adoption agency. Because this meant that another kid might actually be a possibility if they passed this inspection.

They opened up the door to their social worker... and a heavily pregnant lady. 

Yang fumbled for a moment, clearly caught off guard. “Uh- Hi, please come in!” She said, holding the door open for them to come inside. Yang furrowed her brow and looked at Blake, mouthing, “Is she gonna birth the child in our living room?” 

Blake stifled a laugh and gently slapped her arm, their kids laughing despite having no clue what her joke meant.

“So, would you mind if we got down to business,” their social worker spoke, smiling at them. “We’d love to see the rest of your lovely home.”

Blake nodded and took a few steps forward. “Of course, we-“ 

Kamari scrabbled to the ground, she and Kade taking the lead and walking ahead towards the centre of the living room. “Don’t mind them, we can show you around,” Kade said, waving off his moms as though they weren’t important.

They both laughed, vaguely mortified but also amused by their character.

It amused their guests as well by the looks of things, both of them laughing happily. Their social worker hummed and smiled when Kamari began tugging on her trousers to get her to come with them. She looked towards Yang and Blake, not at all worried by their daughter’s persistence. “Why don’t I let you both catch up with Beatrice here whilst these two show me around?”

Blake was about to protest, but she thought, why fight it? If anything was going to be exposed in this house, the kids would say it anyway. So why not. “Sure, go ahead,” she said, feeling faint from the thought.

The woman, Beatrice, come over to stand with them, watching as the twins paraded their social worker through the living room and into the kitchen. “They’re quite the pair, aren’t they.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if it’s a twin thing but they’re inseparable,” Yang said, grinning easily as she shrugs. Blake only hummed and nodded in agreement, deciding that with her nerves, the best approach would be to just smile and wave. “Excuse me a second, I think Kamari’s trying to climb the cabinets again.” Yang quickly hurried into the kitchen, scolding Kade for encouraging her as well.

Blake smiled and extended her hand. “I’m Blake. That’s my wife Yang and my kids Kamari and Kade.”

”Beatrice, it’s lovely to meet you,” she said, shaking her hand.  “How is it having kids?” Beatrice asked, and Blake laughed. 

“Well, sometimes it’s not easy but I love them. They’re my babies.” Blake chuckled, smiling as she looked back onfond memories. Long lost until Beatrice had made them resurface. “They’ve actually started wanting to become hunters, so we’re using toy weapons to train them. They already unlocked-“

“And you’re both looking to adopt now?” She asked quickly, a hopeful glint in her eyes. Blake realised then that this woman wasn’t here as a random guest, she was scoping out potential foster parents.

“Yeah, we were thinking about it for a while and I miss when my kids were babies,” Blake said, slightly pandering to the woman. Of course, she had to. She wanted the woman’s baby- okay, no, that sounded insane. “So, what do you work as?”

“I’m a middle school teacher. I love kids but... I don’t know about one of my own,” she said solemnly, staring off into the kitchen where Yang was now discussing something with their social worker whilst the twins hugged her legs. “Your wife makes it look so easy.”

“She always does, trust me, it’s annoying.” They laughed lightly.

“How is it being a huntress whilst having kids? Must be rough.”

“It’s actually alright, we usually take turns going on missions.” Blake shrugged and took a step sideways to grab Kade’s shirt collar, tugging him away from sprinting headfirst into the stairwell by accident. “Our friend Weiss, you might have seen her on tv, she loves babysitting.”

“Really?”

“Oh, she’s a total teddy bear, trust me. She loves kids.” The woman smiled happily, greeting Yang as she walked back over, the twins now gripping Blake’s arms and legs, determined to get her inside of their grasp to tug her upstairs. Blake spun on her heel. “I’ll be back in a second, I’m gonna show around the upstairs.”

The woman turned to Yang next, a sweet smile on her face. “What a lovely bunch you have.”

“Yeah... I adore them. Sometimes the kids can be little monsters but they’re great.” Yang cackled, shrugging. Beatrice shuffled on her feet, rubbing her stomach. Awkwardly, Yang glanced upstairs, scratching the back of her head. Honestly, she wasn’t too sure what to say.

“So you and your wife are thinking of adopting?” Yang perked up, nodding. Finally, a conversation that she hadn’t started.

“Yeah... we’re kinda struggling with the thought of sending them back to preschool. The time to ourselves is great but we’re too attached.”

“It’s sweet that you’re too clingy.” She chuckled, hiking her handbag onto her shoulder. Beatrice bit her lip, glancing upstairs before turning to Yang. “Listen, your social worker is my sister and she’s letting me meet her clients because I’m planning on putting my baby up for adoption.”

Growing more uncomfortable by the second, Yang nodded and checked again for Blake coming downstairs.

“You both seem perfect so if you can wait a few months then-“

“Listen, Beatrice, that sounds amazing, but you’ve known us for less then twenty minutes.” Yang bit her tongue, firmly placing her hands a hand on her hip as the other was planted on her chest. “Look, I love my kids, and I was really nervous all the way up until Blake went into labor. But as soon as I held them, it was amazing. So... I guess I’m just saying, give it a chance.”

Beatrice smiled, gently clasping Yang’s arm and rubbing soothingly.

“That was nice of you, but I’ve thought about it everyday for seven months, and I don’t want this baby.” Yang sighed, tensing one of her cheeks as she smiled thinly.

“As long as you’re sure.”

“Also, how was your wife going into labor?”

“It was the most stressful thirteen hours of my life.”

Beatrice pulled a face, halfway between amused and horrified. “Really?”

Yang nodded, folding her arms across her chest. “Yeah, there was a lot of yelling, then she punched me, I had a black eye- it was a whole thing. One of the best days of my life though.”

Beatrice hummed and nodded.

“But we also had twins so I don’t think it’ll be bad for you,” Yang said, holding her hands out defensively. She was finally grateful for her kids barrelling down the stairs towards her, Kamari jumping up to hang from her arm and Kade hugging her leg.

“Yang, hon, when is our extension being built again?” Blake asked, helping their social worker over to the door.

“It’s sometime in the spring, but we’ve got a deposit on a house in the city that we’re renting for a few months whilst the extension is getting built,” Yang explained, Blake nodding and extending her hand out towards Yang as she looked back at their social worker.

“Yup, and I can assure that that home will be child-proofed too,” Blake said, smiling. A fake, menacing smile that Yang knew all too well.

“Alright, well then you’re all clear. We just need you to sign some forms and you can get looking right away.” The social worker began walking off to the kitchen to collect her handbag, Blake eager to see the back of her.

Beatrice chuckled and smiled over at Yang. “Unless I somehow find a better family to look after this little one, expect a phone call in a couple months time.” She winked and strolled out the door. Blake practically pushed the social worker out of the door behind her.

Standing for a few moments to make sure they were gone, Blake turned and declared, “I hate that woman, I don’t know how many more things we can child proof.”

“We haven’t child proofed anything except the car doors-“

“Exactly! What is the point of putting child proof locks everywhere, they’re not idiots, and they climb-“ Blake cut herself off, groaning as she covered her eyes with her hand. “Do you think it went well.”

Yang nodded, watching as Kade carefully climbed up each step with finesse. “I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been binging modern family again and I have so many ideas now


	18. Blake’s Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Blake’s birthday!

Blake already knew that Yang had everything planned out, right down to how what plate her breakfast would be served on.

Currently, Yang was downstairs baking the only thing she knew how to make: pancakes. It was her one tradition for Blake every birthday, she would get up early to make Blake pancakes, topped with honey and fruit. It was great, and she loved it! But she had some things to get done today, so breakfast was the most she could be treated to today.

Blake lay there, one ear flicked back and listening to Yang’s footsteps coming along the hallway. Which meant time to slowly prop herself up on the pillows and pretend like she hadn’t expected her to come in. At this point, she was sure that Yang knew that Blake was expecting her to bring breakfast up to their bedroom, but it was still nice.

The door cracked open, Yang smiling as she placed the tray down on Blake’s lap. “Happy birthday, Blake.” She smiled as she leaned forward to kiss her, Blake whimpering and pouting when she pulled away again.

“Thank you, baby,” Blake said, leaning over to peck Yang’s cheek, moving to to rest against her whilst she ate. “Are the kids up yet?”

“Not yet...” Blake began chewing slowly, side eyeing Yang, expecting what she was about to say next. “Still can’t believe I’m in love with an older woman.”

“When are you gonna get a new joke?” Blake said, chuckling despite claiming that it wasn’t funny.

“Never,” Yang said, sighing quietly as she pressed her face into Blake’s neck. “Want to hear my plans for today?”

Letting out a sigh through her nose, Blake’s ears flattened on her head. She did feel guilty about having to go into the city for a meeting with one of her fathers associates, but it was important for securing a lot of new faunus friendly policies within Vale so she couldn’t miss it. Even if it was her birthday. She gently sat the tray to the side, sitting upright to set a soothing hand on Yang’s knee.

“Hon, I’m sorry but I’ve actually got some work stuff to do today, I hope you don’t mind,” Blake said softly, wincing at her wife. Yang hummed and shrugged, smiling easily.

“That’s fine, we’ll do something when you’re done then.”

“You’re sure? I can maybe try and set it back until tomorrow-“

“No, it’s fine! You go get all of your work done and I’ll get the kids up and ready.” Thank the gods she said that, because Blake couldn’t push this meeting back.

Blake smiled, leaning in to kiss her wife, proper, with a slightly strained tilt of her head and her nose bumping against Yang’s cheek, tensed from her smile. She was glad Yang was as understanding as she was, it made her life a whole lot easier.

In the next moment, she pulled away, standing and skipping over to the door. “I’m gonna say good morning to the kids before I leave,” she says as she swings into the hallway, an eager bounce in her step.

Yang hums but immediately reaches for her scroll, pulling up Weiss’ contact immediately to leave a voicemail. “Operation B-thirty-one is a go.”

* * *

So maybe Yang had tricked Blake. No harm done. Just a little white lie that she hadn’t seen her wife’s schedule for this week and noticed that she would be gone for a solid five hours after lunch time. That just meant that this year she could organise something that never worked on Blake; a surprise party.

It was no secret that Blake found out everything somehow. So the fact that she was gone for a few hours gave her plenty of room to set up a surprise party for when she got back tonight. Plus, Yang had the twins, Weiss and Ruby to help her set up, it would look more like an Atlas ball by the time it was finished.

Blake would thank her for her double bluff later, because it meant that everyone won this way! Blake gets her meeting finished, feels bad for missing out on Yang’s plans for a few hours, then gets the surprise party she deserves. It’s a great idea all round. But there may be some obstacles. 

So, Yang and the kids made a list.

Obstacle one: Weiss being a control freak.

The solution? She can’t say no to Kade or Kamari.

“Yang!” Weiss let out a prolonged screech that could shatter the windows. “What food are we having?!”

“I’m gonna start up a barbecue-“

“Yang Belladonna, I am NOT eating that heathen food!”

Yang groaned, banging her head off of the wall with an audible thunk. She continued on with her task, carefully applying the finishing touches to the cake Ruby so kindly helped her bake. Weiss’ preference for food could wait a moment, if this cake wasn’t perfect then Yang would argue that it was grounds for a divorce. Red velvet? Check. Vanilla icing? Of course. Assortment of berries? If Weiss would give her a moment then it would be done.

The outside was lined with strawberries and raspberries like she had planned for, now she had to create a heart in the centre out of blueberries. Very carefully placing each one down with precision-

“ _YANG_!”

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT SCHNEE?!” Yang roared, whipping around to face the door to the living room. Kamari and Kade gasped from where they stood on their chairs, fixing out sandwiches on a plate for everyone.

“Fuck!” The twins said proudly, grinning at their growing vocabulary.

Yang’s eyes went wide, mortified. Panicked, she shook her head and hands at them. “No! That’s a bad word, you kids can’t say that.” Usually they were very careful with choosing their words around the kids, aside from a few hushed swear words. Today, however, Yang had slipped up.

“But you said it!” Kamari whined, bashing her tiny palms off of the table in a feigned tantrum. Yang stifled a chuckle, sucking in her cheeks.

“I know, but I shouldn’t have said it, so you two can’t say it either. Now, can you kids convince aunt Weiss to let us have a barbecue.” They both pouted and scrambled off of their chairs, sprinting off towards the living room. It wasn’t until shortly after that Weiss was cooing and agreeing to every word that came out of their mouths.

Ruby groaned and poured, brows furrowed as she sidled up next to Yang. “I wish Weiss would agree to things like that with me.”

“Are you seriously jealous?”

“ _No_...” Ruby said, eyes darting to the side before she walked off. Sighing, Yang was glad that her first obstacle had been tackled. But her minor slip of the tongue may have made another life obstacle for herself, so she didn’t know if this was necessarily a win.

Obstacle two: occupying Ruby.

“Hey, Rubes!” Yang yelled, the response being a loud thump and several boxes falling from the storage closet under the stairs, Ruby emerging with tinsel spread over her shoulders and head. This may be harder than the last task...

* * *

Blake felt terrible for ditching her birthday plans to sit in on a boring meeting. Which was honestly much more boring and less productive than she thought it would be.

She came here under the impression that she was going to get a lot done, instead she was listening to a human man talk about ‘normalising’ faunus-human relations. And his way of doing that would be to ask directors to include more faunus-human couples in their films and shows. Which was alright... but nothing special, really.

So instead, she spent her time sending messages to Yang. 

< hey hon, how has your day been?

She waited a minute... no answer. The twins must be keeping her busy, always an amusing thought to her.

< sorry for missing out on your plans today. starting to wish i would’ve just stayed home.

> Awww thts crappy :((( we’ll do smfn for ur bday when u get home ;)

That made her smile at her scroll, stupidly staring at the screen. 

< i should be finishing up soon, do need me to bring anything home?

> Could u pick up some dilutin juice plz? We r running low

> of course, is that all? 

< Yup! I’ll c u when u get bk, love u <3 

“Miss Belladonna, do you have any thoughts?” The man asked, arms folded across his chest as he stood in front of the whiteboard. Blake hummed and shook her head, sighing through her nose. The man quirked his brow. “None at all? Isn’t your wife human?”

“She is.”

“So what’s that like, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Well, for a start, it’s ridiculous that we can’t go anywhere without her getting strange looks from people,” Blake said, leaning back in her chair and shutting off her scroll. “We should be focusing more on adding this into my fathers campaign, not shoehorning it into the media straight away.” 

“Would it be a terrible ask of you and your-“

“I’m sorry, but we’re recognised enough across Remnant for what me and my family did years ago, and I don’t want my kids on billboards for racists to ridicule.”

“And you don’t think that’s selfish?”

“I don’t,” Blake says, stretching as she stood up before smoothing out her suit jacket. “But I _do_ think this meeting is over.”

In truth, she had lost all interest when the subject of exploiting her children came up. Maybe she was selfish for it, but she didn’t care. It would go a long way for them in years to come, no one would make fun of them for being those kids that were on that billboard that one time. 

But, on the bright side, now she could go pick up some juice then head home. What could go wrong with that?

* * *

A lot could go wrong, on Yang’s part anyway. 

For a start, the twins were out of control. Thanks to Weiss egging them on, they were now running rampant with their practice weapons, appearing and disappearing as they tried to best Yang in a fight only they were partaking in. Meanwhile, Weiss was relaxing in the backyard, a magazine open as she sat at their bench table. 

Then Ruby... Yang actually didn’t know where she was. 

“Yang! Blake’s calling you!” Ruby called out, appearing from nowhere with Yang’s scroll in hand. The blonde panicked and grabbed the scroll, spinning around to grab the sword Kamari was swinging at her. “Do you need help!-“

“I don’t need help,” Yang said defensively, crouching down to her children’s eye level. “Kids, if you don’t stop this, you’re both grounded.”

They pouted but lowered their tiny weapons. 

“Okay, go out back with aunt Weiss, mommy’s gonna be home soon.” 

Yang jogged off to the living room, swinging upstairs as she answered her scroll. She payed no mind to how out of breath she must’ve sounded, but that would probably be no different than from when she was left alone every other time. Maybe that was her problem, she couldn’t sit still on her own. 

“Hey, Yang. I’m heading home now,” Blake cooed over the scroll. “What’re you up to?”

“Uh....” she glanced around, searching for an excuse. “Just, y’know, getting a workout in whilst the kids are watching tv.”

Blake hummed, barely audible over the sound of the traffic passing by Blake as she drove. “If you’re up for it we could take a bath together tonight.”

“You really love doing that, huh.”

“You know I’ve always loved it. Anyways, I’m only, like, twenty minutes away. So I’ll see you soon!”

“Alright, see you soon, hon!” Yang sang, quickly hanging up and tossing her scroll into her pocket.

Okay, so this was bad. Because she realised as she was carrying the presents from the living room to the yard, that when Blake pulls up in front of the house, she’ll see Weiss’ car. Which is a huge giveaway that something’s going on. 

Thinking on her feet, Yang sprinted across the street, a lump in her throat as she arrived at the neighbours front porch. Neighbours that Blake described as ‘the strangest people she’s ever met and would not like to get to know.’ To be fair, she was also drunk and fairly mad that the neighbours dog had shit in their garden a few times.

A woman answered the door after a few knocks, a cigarette held between her lips. “Heya, neighbour.”

“Hi, can I ask a favour?”

“Shoot.”

“Can I park my sisters car over here for a half hour? We’re doing a surprise party for my wife,” Yang says as she finally catches her breath, bracing her hand on the wall. The woman hummed and nodded for Yang to follow her inside. Confused, the blonde did so anyway, shooting a quick message to Weiss to bring her car over.

The woman stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray and lifted out a small bottle of alcohol from inside a cabinet in the hallway. “I always see you working out in the forest.”

“Yeah, sorry about that-“

“Oh, don’t be, it’s a great sight first thing in the morning.”

Weird thing to say, but Yang wasn’t really processing anything other than the sound of Weiss’ car crunching over the pebbles in the driveway. Yang threw her thumb in the direction if the door, saying, “Uh, I’ve really gotta get going, my wife is gonna be home any minute now.

Sighing, the woman turned and handed the bottle to Yang. She smirked, and cocked her head to the side. “Come over any time you need something, don’t be shy.”

Yang honestly wasn’t even there anymore, she had started running at some point and picked up Weiss along the way, the shorter woman being thrown over her shoulders. Now was not the time to be chatting with the neighbours that her wife hated on her wife’s birthday. 

* * *

Pulling up at home was... eerie. 

All of the lights were off, from what Blake could see, and there was absolutely no sound coming from within. The last she had heard was that Yang was doing a workout and the kids were watching tv. Two things that were clearly not happening. 

Maybe they had went out without her, she thought as she pulled out her keys to unlock the door. Not that she could blame them if they did, she would just have to wait for them to get back if they did. She pulled the door open-

“Surprise!” The lights flicked on, and Blake jumped, a hand on her heart from the fright. 

She was pleasantly surprised to not only see her wife and kids but Weiss and Ruby as well (in the last ten or so years they had began to refer to each other as sisters, so it was actually a nice feeling that they were here.) 

“Hi! I thought you two were out on a mission?” Blake said, welcoming the hugs from both Ruby and Weiss as they sauntered over to greet her at the door. 

“We lied so you wouldn’t suspect anything,” Weiss chuckled, leaning over to close the door. Ruby nodded enthusiastically beside her, before spinning around to grab a glass of wine, already prepared for Blake. She hummed a small thank you, wrapping an arm around Ruby’s shoulders to bring her in for another hug. 

“I miss when you weren’t as affectionate.”

“It’s my birthday, screw you,” Blake giggled, playfully pushing on Ruby’s shoulder. Blake glanced over to the twins, who both stood next to Yang quietly, waiting for their moment. She chuckled and took a sip from her glass, sitting it down. Her arms opened wide as she crouched down, and the twins smiled as they ran over to hug her. 

A kiss was placed onto both of their foreheads as they cuddled into her. “Happy birthday mommy,” they spoke, both a beat apart. Kamari accidentally scratched Blake’s leg. “Fuck!-“

”Kam why don’t you go get mommy’s present?!” Yang said, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck. Blake knew immediately that Yang must’ve slipped up with her language earlier, but that was only amusing to her. The twins ran off, Ruby following behind them to make sure they don’t get into any trouble, Weiss in tow. She stopped to tap her hand off of Yang’s shoulder. 

“Oh, also, that bitch you hate from across the street tried to hit on your wife!” Weiss sang. Yang tutted and waved Weiss’ hand away, the white haired girl cackling as she walked off into the kitchen.

“I was asking her if she could let us p-park-“ Yang began to stutter, pushing her hand into her quickly reddening face.

Blake smiled, a teasing edge to it. “P-P-Park, what? Park what where?”

Yang squeezed her eyes shut, her face suddenly reddening ten shades darker. It was cute, like most things she did. Blake laughed and made her way over, swinging her arms around Yang’s neck. The blonde adjusted, lowering her arms to Blake’s waist.

“You get flustered so easily,” Blake whispered, nose scrunching up in amusement before pressing a quick kiss to Yang’s lips. “So, the neighbour hit on you?”

“I didn’t even realise until Weiss pointed it out.”

“I know you didn’t, it’s just funny.” Blake sighed and sank her fingers into Yang’s hair, enjoying the feeling of resting their foreheads together. “Thank you for only asking Weiss and Ruby to come.”

The blonde hummed, pulling back from Blake. “I know you prefer small stuff like this- oh, before we go get the others...” Yang trailed off, fishing a small box out of her pocket. She offered it to Blake, who smiled and unwrapped the ribbon on it, delighted as she fished out a gold chain with a ring dangling from it, tiny diamonds scattered around the edges.

“Wow,” Blake said, blinking a few times. “This is gorgeous, hon.”

“Yeah, I didn’t even know eternity rings were a thing until Weiss told me about it so I-“

“Just _had_ to get me one?” Blake snarked, enjoying the way Yang tripped over her words. “You don’t have to get me something like this for me to know that you love me, but I appreciate it. Can you help me put this on?”

Yang hummed and gestured for Blake to turn around, gently clasping the necklace on the back of her neck. She smiled and pressed a kiss to her neck. “Happy birthday.”


	19. Valentines Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Am I doing a Valentine’s Day chapter over a week later? Yes, yes I am.

Valentine’s Day; the one day of the year where Blake and Yang made sure to completely clear their schedules so that they could spend the day together.

Or that should’ve been the case, if it hadn’t been for the two kids, potential third child on the way and both of them running around like mad women trying to find a babysitter for tonight.

Yang sighed as she ran her hand through her hair, walking through the room as she tapped on her scroll. Almost everyone had dates or other plans for tonight, and had done so for weeks. Plus... it’s not like anyone was giving up their plans to look after their kids. They weren’t fond of hiring a babysitter either, what with it being a complete stranger sitting in their home with their twin babies who they cherished more than anything- yeah, that wasn’t happening.

“I can’t believe Weiss has a date,” Blake grumbled, one of Yang’s bottles of beer in hand as she sidled up next to Yang, hugging her arm. “I guess we’re staying home then.”

“We’ll find something,” Yang mumbled, still searching through her contacts. Yang knew their plans were doomed. They had two hours to find a babysitter, drop off the kids then get to the restaurant they had reservations for. Which was not happening in that space of time. She was starting to consider cutting their losses and taking the family to the movies instead.

Then she gasped when a message popped through from Jaune.

“Jaune’s looking after Li for Nora and Ren, he said he could take Kam and Kade if we needed a sitter.”

“He’s such a life saver, we really need to get him something,” Blake said, a dopey smile on her face as she skipped back into the kitchen. A part of Yang’s brain was screaming at the fact that Blake was pouring out a perfectly good beer, but she would leave that thought for a later date. “Yang, do you need your glasses?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks though, hon.”

“I’m bringing them anyway because the last time you said this you complained that you couldn’t read the menu.”

“The font was too small-“

“No, you just need to wear your glasses.”

“Every time...” Yang grumbled, now on her way upstairs to begin the process of getting their kids dressed and herding them into the car. So far so good. Valentine’s Day appeared to be saved.

* * *

As fate had decided, she was once again proven wrong.

The day was not saved, it was far from saved: it was her daughter throwing a tantrum because Kade’s little friend Christian called inviting him over for a sleepover. Which meant that Kamari now felt entitled to have the same treatment, and since she didn’t want to go with Jaune, her only other options were to make something up.

From there it had quickly escalated into a hostage situation... the hostage being their car keys, for which they did not have spares, and that Kamari would not hesitate to sink her claws into.

“Come on, Kamari. You’re going to uncle Jaune’s,” Yang said, sighing tiredly. She honestly had given up at this point, there was no feasible way they were getting to that restaurant on time now. The tiny blonde whined and stamped her feet, balling her hands up at her sides. It would’ve been incredibly amusing if she wasn’t so annoyed. Although, Kade awkwardly standing with his little rucksack tossed over his back and holding Blake’s hand was very cute.

“But I don’t want to!” She cried again.

Blake shook her head and reached forward to grab Kamari’s jacket off of the bed, ears indecisively flicking around atop her head. “Okay, you’ve lost all of your scroll time next week. But if you get in the car and behave for uncle Jaune you might get it back,” Blake said.

There was a strange mix of emotions on Kamari’s face, but she finally decided to relent and stepped forward to take Yang’s hand. They both let out relieved sighs as they left the room. Kade happily skipping ahead of them, bobbing down the stairs and out the front door. Meanwhile, Kamari just silently plodded along next to Yang.

“I’m sorry, mama,” Kamari whispered. Yang grunted her acknowledgment as she lifted her daughter into the car, smoothly fixing the seatbelt over her. The blonde smiled softly and cupped Kamari’s cheek, wiping away a stray, guilty tear.

“It’s alright, sweetheart. We all get upset sometimes,” Yang said, dropping a kiss on her forehead before closing the door and returning to her rightful place in the drivers seat. A quick glance in the rear view mirror, showed her that Kamari may have been a little cheered up by her ‘it’s normal to have emotions’ sentiment. God, she wished someone would’ve told her that when she was a kid.

The proceeding drive to drop off Kade was... quiet.

Blake sat with her arms crossed, looking back every now and then to check on the twins, until they finally arrived. Yang shuffled out of the car, Kade skipping happily as he gripped her hand above him and swung himself in the air. It made her giggle. At the bottom of the driveway stood Christian’s mom, her son standing next to her with an action figure in hand, his ears perked up in excitement.

“Hey!” Yang greeted, waving at the woman. “Thanks for offering to let Kade stay over.

“Oh, it’s no bother at all, the boys have been wanting to get together for a while.” The woman looked Yang up and down, before smirking as she raised an eyebrow. “Are you going out with your wife?”

“Yeah, we’re dropping the little guys sister off at our friends place then going for dinner.”

“If it’s too much trouble, I can take her.”

Yang shook her head, scrunching up her nose. “No, I don’t want to put you out-“

“Don’t worry, it’s only myself and the kids anyway. It would actually be nice to have the company,” she said, a half hearted giggle following after her sentence.

Thinking about it, for a moment. Yang decided that it would probably be fine to leave both of the twins here. It wasn’t like they didn’t know the woman well enough. Her name was Cassandra, she was a single mom who worked from home, and she was very kind. Plus her son was Kade’s best friend so there was really no danger from the looks of things.

She skipped back to the car, knocking on Blake’s side and waiting for her to respond.

“Something wrong?” Blake asked, glancing up at her with a raised brow.

“Cassandra asked if Kamari wanted to stay over too. What do you think?”

Blake shrugged and glanced back at Kamari. “What do you think , Kam? Want to stay over with your brother and Christian.”

Kamari nodded slowly, somewhat embarrassed from having to admit it out loud. They had always known that Kade and Kamari loved going everywhere together. They were each other’s best friends. Now, at least they knew where the tantrum had came from.

“Sweetheart, is that why you got upset earlier?” Blake asked, reaching back to softly grab her knee. Kamari nodded.

“I’m sorry...”

“It’s okay, don’t worry... you can have your scroll time back.” Kamari smiled, giddily bouncing up and down now that she realised that she was going on a sleepover she actually wanted to be on. Blake giggled and rolled her eyes. “Okay, I love you, have fun.”

Yang smiled, hopping around to the other side of the car to lift Kamari out of the car, her rucksack tossed over her shoulder.

“Yang, remember and tell Cassandra about Kam’s scratch proof pillowcase and her blanket-“

“I’ve got it, hon. I’m also her mom, you know.”

“And-“

“ _And_ Kade can’t sleep without his Pumpkin Pete plushie.”

“And-“

“Mommy, Mama’s got it!” Kamari whined. Yang nodded in agreement with her daughter, pointing at her with a delighted smile on her face. “What she said.”

* * *

Again, complete silence on the drive. 

Except this time, it was Blake’s turn to worry about the stern look on Yang’s face and her tight grip on the steering wheel. There was a list of reasons that could’ve put her in a bad mood from today, but also there was no reason that she should be because this was their first night alone together in months. If anything, Yang should be relieved. 

“What’s wrong?” Blake asked, reaching across to gently grip Yang’s arm. “You’re awfully quiet.”

Yang shook her head, humming, “Nothing, just watching the road.”

“Is this because I drank one of your beers?”

“No, we share everything. That doesn’t bother me.”

“That’s a lie, you have a stash of candy somewhere so no one else eats it,” Blake laughed, amused at the way Yang’s nose guiltily scrunched up. In retrospect, it was a little concerning that Blake hadn’t stumbled across it whilst cleaning the house. She didn’t know if this candy stash changed repeatedly or if Yang had actually cut out a piece of the wall to hide it.

“I’m starving,” Yang says, relaxing into her seat. She could allow herself to do so, the road being a long drive straight ahead through the centre of two fields leading into the main city of Vale. “Do you think Kamari’s little fit was because she was still hungry?”

“I don’t think so, they ate dinner not that long ago.” Blake’s head rolled along the headrest to face Yang. “Is that what’s wrong? You’re worried about Kam?”

“A little... I’m just worried that she’s scared to tell us things.”

“Well, we can talk about it with her and Kade tomorrow. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds perfect,” Yang sighed. “I’m starving.”

Blake giggled and shook her head, glancing lovingly over at her wife. Of whom still seems a little troubled, but she would let it slide for now and instead blame her rumbling stomach on the distress. “You always do that.”

“Do what?”

“Fill in silence by saying that you’re hungry.”

“It’s not silence if the radio’s on,” Yang said, wiggling her eyebrows to punctuate the fine point she had just made. Blake giggled again and rolled her eyes. “What personalised thing did you get me this year?” She smirked.

Blake scoffed and pouted, crossing her arms in defiance. “It’s not the only thing I get you.”

“I know, but it’s still funny that I’m gathering a collection of things that have puns engraved on them.”

“Well what first edition book did you get _me_ this year?” Blake snarked. Yang looked over her incredulously, mouth agape in shock. 

“It’s not first edition,” Yang scoffed. “It’s second.”

”Oh, shut up!-“

_** POP! ** _

“Shit!” Yang swore, hurrying to pull the car over to the side of the road, gritting her teeth as she tugged on the gearshift. A slight panic sank in as they both hopped out of the car. Yang groaned as she leaned over to check the bottom of the car. Blake groaned and sat on the hood of the car, defeated, her face pushed into her hand.

“Flat tire,” Yang announced, clapping her hands on the roof of the car. “Twenty minutes and I’ll have it changed, we’ve got a spare-“

“We don’t.”

“Huh?” Yang’s puzzled expression was more than enough to settle a small ball of guilt in the pit of Blake’s stomach.

“I took out the spare tire and your tools when I was picking up the crib for the baby.” Chuckling, Yang came to sit next to her on the hood, both of them staring off down the road. The blonde tentatively put her arm around Blake’s waist, tugging her closer. “ _I’m sorry._ ”

“Don’t worry about it, hon.” Yang shrugged, pressing a soft kiss to Blake’s temple. “You’re amazing but you’re not psychic.”

There was a beat of silence as they continued to stare off down the empty road, the slight haze of heat visible low down near the concrete.

“What’s wrong-“

“Today was supposed to be our day, and we couldn’t even have that,” Blake said, resting her head on Yang’s shoulder. “I just wanted one night together before we’re back to sleepless nights and crying babies.”

“Yeah...” Yang says, gulping. “I miss you a lot.”

“You miss me?” Blake parroted, pulling back slightly as she giggled at her wife.

“Forget it, it’s stupid-“

Blake lightly slapped Yang’s shoulder, narrowing her eyes at her.

“ _Okay_... I guess I just miss spending time with you. Like, I love our kids, but I love my wife too,” Yang said quietly, turning her head away to save herself the embarrassment. Smiling, Blake gently cupped her jaw, guiding her back around to face her. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what? I’m not doing anything,” Blake giggled, littering kisses on Yang’s cheek and trailing to her lips. “I miss you too, dumby.”

Yang laughed, settling into the feeling of Blake’s lips on her own, the warm and nostalgic feeling of butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Their lives had been getting much busier the last few months, with Blake dedicating a lot of her time to helping out with the new White Fang and Yang taking a good few odd jobs with her mechanic work.

“So, what’s our backup plan?”

“ _Uhh_ , roadside assistance, takeout and fooling around until you fall asleep-“

“You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”

“I am not.”

Blake sighs, slipping her scroll out of her pocket. “I’ll call roadside and we’ll be home soon.”

She takes a few tentative steps away from the hood of the car, directing herself more towards the passenger seat. However, whilst she was skilfully requesting for a mechanic to come out to assist them, she noticed Yang slipping away herself. A worried look on her face as the blonde held the scroll to her ear. As soon as her call was done, she never even bothered to put the scroll back in her pocket, only took strides towards her wife.

“ _Yang?_ ” The blonde held her finger up, mouthing ‘one second’ to her whilst reaching out to squeeze her hand. Not at all comforting but Blake would accept it anyway.

“So I have good news and bad news,” Yang says as her thumb slides across the screen, disconnecting her call. “The good news is that our little baby girl was born-“

“Oh my god, really?! It’s a girl?!-“

“But.” Yang emphasised. “She was born with a defect. From what she said it’s a hole in her heart but the doctors said it’s really treatable.”

Blake shrugged, shaking her head as she reached out to grab Yang’s forearms. “That’s fine, we’ll still take care of her. We still love Kamari even though she looks like you.”

“Hey!” Yang pouted.

“I’m kidding! You’re gorgeous,” Blake giggled, leaning forward to gently rest her head against Yang’s chest. They both stayed silent for a moment, somehow managing to keep straight faces for as long as they did before bursting into giddy smiles. “Did they say when we have to pick her up?”

“They said tomorrow but they would call us to keep us updated.” Yang lightly bounced on her toes, pursing her lips. “I can’t believe we’re gonna have another daughter.”

”God, me too.”

A part of Blake was a little disappointed that, out of all the days in the year their daughter could be born on, it was Valentine’s Day. But she supposed it didn’t matter in the end, they would find their way. They always did. 

* * *

It wasn’t until the day after the next that they were called to come pick up the baby from the hospital. Which they didn’t mind, it gave them a little time to mentally prepare the twins and call Weiss over to watch them for a few hours... and also let Weiss and Ruby know because they would be furious if they found out a few hours later.

Yang was stood by the crib, her hand reaching down to sooth her thumb over the baby’s cheek. Meanwhile Blake was standing just at the door with one of the doctors, discussing something that Yang couldn’t quite wrap her head around so she let Blake handle it. Now, she was honestly just waiting for Blake to give her the go-ahead to wrap up their daughter and go home.

She would also be pleased if they didn’t have to fill out more documents for another birth certificate but that was a whole other situation.

Blake strode over, documents within a folder in her hand and the blanket they had brought with them in the other. Yang couldn’t help but admire the sheer bravery that Blake had to not only flinch at the doctor who spoke harsher than anyone they had ever met (which said a lot) but to also look so confident in her steps.

“So what’s the verdict, do we need another birth certificate?” Yang asked, taking the soft blanket from her and immediately reaching down to begin wrapping up their daughter.

“No, Beatrice told the hospital that it was already agreed that we were adopting the baby and gave our names,” Blake said. In truth, Blake had been more than glad that Yang was okay with adopting a baby. She knew how sore of a subject it was, the idea of a parent not wanting her baby. But she preferred to look at it with the idea that they just couldn’t look after them.

“And we’re both settled on her name?” Yang said, gasping when she picked up their daughter with surprising ease.

“Yep, Kyna Xiao-Donna. The same as the twins,” Blake giggled. “The doctor said she’s only five pounds.”

“I thought she might’ve been underweight, she’s really light,” Yang chuckled nervously, cradling Kyna in her arms. She stopped in her tracks, eyes fixed on the tiny green eyes staring up at her, a small smirk gracing the baby’s features. “What’re you smiling at, huh?”

“Pass her over, I want to hold her,” Blake said, and Yang reluctantly handed her over, trading the baby for the folder Blake was holding. She pouted as they left, fishing out her car keys on the way down the stairs.

“You don’t want to spend too much time with mama, sweetheart. Before you know it you’ll end up acting like her.”

“That’s more a jab at yourself, hon.”

“No, I know, but there’s too many clowns in this family we need at least one genius.”   


“Fair,” Yang chuckled, reaching across the cars console to gently take hold of Kyna’s hand, her thumb being the entire size of her palm and then some. “All of our kids are gonna be superstars, though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Applaud me for finally updating 1 of my fics. Anyways, I hope y’all enjoyed and I’m gonna try get another chapter out soon. U know how it be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading people, I’m stressed to the max with school and just using this as a little bit of relaxation. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading, and until next time folks.


End file.
